The Baltimore Orioles, despite a solid 78-71 record in baseball's toughest division, the AL East, are on the outside looking in the playoff race. With 13 games left in the season, they are trailing the Seattle Mariners by four games for the third and final Wild Card spot. Nevertheless, that doesn't mean the Orioles players will be phoning it in. Someone who definitely did not mail it in was rookie starter Kyle Bradish, who turned in the best performance of his young career against the Houston Astros.
It's easy to get intimidated by the 99-52 Astros lineup, which houses heavy hitters such as Yordan Alvarez and Alex Bregman, but not Kyle Bradish. Bradish was lights out all night long, shutting out the Astros in 8.2 innings of work, notching 10 strikeouts with no walks. In the process, he achieved something that hasn't been done for the Orioles franchise in 118 years (!).
Per ESPN Stats & Info, Bradish is only the second rookie in franchise history (and the first since the franchise moved to Baltimore in 1953) to record 10 strikeouts, 0 walks, and allow zero runs, joining Fred Glade in 1904 for the St. Louis Browns.
What a night for Kyle Bradish against the Astros.
He's just the second rookie in Orioles franchise history with 10 K, 0 walks and 0 runs allowed in a game, joining Fred Glade in 1904 for the St. Louis Browns. pic.twitter.com/npqjxipwtv
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) September 23, 2022
Kyle Bradish entered the game with a questionable 5.05 ERA in 101.2 innings pitched (20 starts), which makes this sort of performance even more amazing. To add to the improbability of Bradish's performance, he was also squaring off against AL Cy Young favorite Justin Verlander, who only struck out four batters, allowing two runs on six hits, none bigger than Rougned Odor's two-run single that gave the Orioles the lead early in the second inning. Bradish's dominant performance also spoiled the homecoming of former teammate Trey Mancini, whom he struck out twice.
Before the game, the odds favored the Astros to take home the victory, and who wouldn't? It was a mismatch on paper, but Kyle Bradish's performance is exactly the reason why games are played on the field.
With heavy hitters Adley Rutschman and Gunnar Henderson beginning to make names for themselves, the pitching staff would soon have to step up for the Orioles to continue competing with the powerhouses of the AL East. Only 26 years old, perhaps this is the what spurs Kyle Bradish to realize his full potential. If he does, he would give the Orioles another young starter to build their rotation around alongside the impressive Dean Kremer.
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