The Baltimore Orioles got an interesting start out of Kyle Bradish this evening at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia. He had two bad innings, in which he couldn’t locate his breaking pitches. Once he got a hold of it, he got into a groove. Bradish’s line: 6.2 IP, 7 H, 5 R, 2 BB, 3 K.
The O’s did get off to a good start, which is always important. Adley Rutschman came up to bat in the third inning with two runners on. And Bradish smacked a three-run homer, giving the O’s a 3-0 lead.
However it was the third and fourth in which Bradish couldn’t locate his pitches. He seemed to not have his normal control, which happens to pitchers sometimes. Cave’s RBI-double got Philadelphia on the board and cut the Orioles’ lead to 3-1. Castellanos’ RBI-single later in the inning cut the lead to 3-2.
One inning later Philadelphia took a 4-3 lead on a two-RBI double by Realmuto. But in the wake of that, Bradish buckled down. He got his control back, and started to mow hitters down.
And the Orioles ended up tying the game. Austin Hays’ seventh inning RBI-single knotted things up at four. However manager Brandon Hyde may have left Kyle Bradish in for one hitter too many. Maybe one pitch too many – this is the last of the seventh. Sosa’s solo homer gave Philadelphia the lead back, and a lead that they would pad an inning later after Bradish had left the game. This on a Harper RBI-single, giving Philadelphia a 6-4 lead – and a 6-4 win.
There are a lot of things you can mention regarding this ballgame. First off, did Brandon Hyde leave Kyle Bradish in for too long? Maybe he did, and maybe not. It’s tough to say. One thing we can say is that Bradish struggle in the third and fourth innings, but he was able to right himself. To stick around through the seventh was a gritty performance by Bradish.
End of the day, you don’t want to drop any games or any series’. However the O’s leave Philadelphia a game-and-a-half in first place in front of Tampa. And yes, they dropped this series, but in effect it’s semi-meaningless in that it’s against a National League opponent. That makes a difference.
Birdland Crush 