I don’t know about you all, but I am declaring Samuel Basallo Day a complete success.

The Orioles celebrated the newly promoted top prospect with 12 runs on 14 hits. Basallo got one of those hits and picked up two RBI as well. Dean Kremer pitched a great game with seven shutout innings to lead the team to a 12-0 victory over the first-place Astros.

Kremer followed his outstanding start against the Mariners last week with another gem today. Through the first two innings, Kremer allowed two hits. Carlos Correa singled in the first and Yainer Diaz singled in the second. Diaz’s hit went to Jordan Westburg deep behind third base. Westburg made a great play and the play was called an out, but was overturned on replay.

After the second-inning single, Kremer retired the next nine batters, and he did it with relative ease. Gunnar Henderson did make an excellent play to end the second, but it was smooth sailing otherwise.

The way Kremer pitched, the Orioles didn’t need to score many runs today. They did anyway.

They were poised to score big early in the game when they loaded the bases on three straight singles from Jeremiah Jackson, Jackson Holliday, and Jordan Westburg. Westburg’s single fell in front of the right fielder and Jackson held up to make sure it fell in, so he was unable to score.

That brought Gunnar Henderson to the plate, who came into the game batting .390 with runners in scoring position. That’s pretty good.

Cristian Javier threw Henderson a knuckle curve at the bottom of the strike zone and Henderson launched it to right field. It looked like it had a chance to get over the wall.

And it would have gone if not for an excellent catch from Jesús Sánchez. Sánchez leapt above the wall to grab the ball for the second out.

Henderson was robbed of a grand slam and had to settle for a sacrifice fly. The Orioles led, 1-0. It was the first of two home run robberies for Sánchez in the game.

The offense had another chance in the fifth inning, and this time they came through. Javier exited the game after three innings pitched due to illness, so relief pitcher Shawn Dubin took over. Dubin had pitched a quick fourth inning, but the fifth inning did not go as well.

Dylan Beavers started things off with a single back up the middle, then the Jackson brothers (Jeremiah and Holliday) followed with singles of their own.

Beavers came in to score on Holliday’s hit, and there were two runners on for Jordan Westburg.

Dubin left a cutter in the middle of the plate and Westburg did not miss. His 15th home run sailed over the center field fence to give the Orioles a 5-0 lead.

The Astros finally got another baserunner in the bottom of the fifth inning, but he didn’t last long. Kremer walked Victor Caratini on four pitches, but Mauricio Dubón hit into a double play. Kremer struck out Jacob Melton to end the inning and had a 1-2-3 inning in the sixth as well.

The O’s added two more runs in the seventh inning. It started with the Jackson brothers getting on base again (Jeremiah – single, Holliday – walk). Westburg singled in Jackson for the 6th run, then Henderson walked to load the bases.

Rutschman came to the plate with a great chance, and he did hit the ball hard. His 102 mph ground ball to first base was tough for Dubón to handle, but he got the out at first. Holliday scored from third.

Cowser grounded out to a drawn-in first base, which brought Basallo to the plate for the third time. In his first at-bat, Basallo was hit by a pitch. In the second, he grounded into a double play. Here he came to the plate with two outs and runners at second and third.

In the third pitch of the at-bat, he turned on inside pitch and hit what I thought was going to be a home run for his first big league hit.

And it would have been, if not for Jesús freaking Sánchez. Just as he did to Henderson earlier in the game, Sánchez leapt above the wall and hauled the ball back into the park. Come on! It was a bummer for Basallo, but easier to stomach with the Orioles holding a 7-0 lead.

The bottom of the seventh inning was Kremer’s toughest. Jose Altuve started the inning with a single, then Kremer got the next three batters.

He did throw a wild pitch in there to allow Altuve to get to second base, and he did throw 23 pitches. He struck out Caratini to end the inning and his game. Kremer’s final pitching line: 7 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 7 K. He threw 114 pitches. Just an outstanding start.

Kremer exited the game with a 7-0 lead, already more than the Orioles needed. But they went ahead and scored five more runs in the eighth, for good measure.

The inning started with Coby Mayo and Rutschman as the only starters to not reach base. Mayo took his name off that list immediately with a leadoff double. Beavers walked to reach base for the second time in the game. Holliday walked to load the bases and Westburg came to the plate with another RBI chance. He succeeded with a single to make the score 8-0.

Henderson followed Westburg with a bases-loaded walk, although he didn’t seem to be keeping track of the count. The umpire had to tell him to take his base as Beavers came in to score.

Rutschman joined the party with an RBI single. He didn’t want to be the only starter not to reach base! Cowser flew out for out number two, which meant that Basallo would get another chance.

On a 2-1 count, Basallo got a fastball up in the zone. He made solid contact and sent the ball into right-center field at 101.1 mph for his first major league hit. Congratulations, Samuel! Westburg and Henderson scored to give the Orioles a 12-0 lead, the final score.

Grant Wolfram and Corbin Martin pitched the eighth and ninth innings, respectively, for the Orioles. Wolfram allowed a leadoff single then struck out the side. Martin also allowed a leadoff single, to Ramón Urías, and retired the next three.

Orioles win, 12-0! They took two out of three games from the Astros in a series that started with Brandon Young pitching 7.2 perfect innings and ended with a walloping today.

Tomorrow they will be in Boston to try and beat another good team.