Coming into tonight’s game in Houston, the Baltimore Orioles were focusing on Brandon Young continuing the string of quality starts of late. This in Houston, about 90 miles from Young’s hometown. With his entire family and half the town in attendance. The movie, The Rookie comes to mind. Young’s line: 8.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 6 K.
However come the end of the game, it was another baseball movie that was coming to mind, For The Love of the Game. Keep in mind, Young was coming off of perhaps his worst big league start last weekend against the Athletics, And in his hometown he followed that up perhaps the best start by an Oriole pitcher in years. And an unforgettable first major league win in the process. If you’re looking to next year and onwards, Young’s a keeper,
The O’s took a 1-0 lead on a solo homer in the third by Coby Mayo. Two innings later Gunnar Henderson plated a run on a sac fly-RBI. A third run scored on a throwing error.
Gunnar Henderson would add an RBI-single in the seventh, as would Jeremiah Jackson in the eighth. The O’s would also tack on two additional runs on a Dylan Carlson two-run home run. All of that combined for a 7-0 Orioles win in Houston.
But Brandon Young was the story. Anytime someone records their first big league win, he’s the story. Especially in his hometown, in front of his entire cadre of family and friends. But…wow.
Young came within four outs of a perfect game. With one out in the eighth inning, Young’s former teammate, former Oriole Ramon Urias, got aboard with a swinging bunt. He ended up on second base as a result of Young’s throwing error.
So in his first big league win, Brandon Young tossed eight innings of one-hit baseball, surrendering one hit and committing a throwing error. Included in that was a perfect game bid, and in his hometown none the less. Again needless to say, that was the best start for this franchise in several years.
Outstanding. Not perfect, but outstanding. It really shows you how difficult it is to toss a perfect game or no-hitter. You can’t under any circumstances think that Brandon Young is going to have outings like this the rest of his career. That isn’t sustainable. But hopefully he takes this momentum onward. He silenced one of the most potent lineups in baseball tonight in his first major league victory.
The series continues tomorrow night at Daikin Park. Cade Povich gets the start for the O’s, and he’ll be opposed by Houston’s Jason Alexander. Game time is set for just after 7 PM.
Birdland Crush 