For the New York Yankees, the first inning of yesterday’s matinee game at Camden Yards foretold the story of how the game would end. It was a game in which the Baltimore Orioles celebrated the 25th anniversary of Cal Ripkin’s 2,131 straight games, breaking the previous record of New York Yankee Lou Gehrig. It was also the major league pitching debut of Baltimore’s Dean Kremer.
With Kremer on the mound in the first inning, the young man struck out the “machine,” DJ LeMahieu. He followed that up by striking out Luke Voit. At the bottom of the frame, Masahiro Tanaka took the mound for the Yankees and immediately gave up a two-run home run to D.