“A pitcher’s nightmare, this game,” pronounced Kevin Brown as we headed into the fourth inning. It was true, we’d played six half-innings at that point and seen a run or more score in five. There were no easy ABs or quick outs. And while the runs dried up eventually, truly neither the Twins’ Bradley Ober nor the O’s Brandon Young looked particularly skilled tonight. If you like good starting pitching, this was one to skip.
But this was also an Orioles win—and what a relief, given that this team entered
tonight two games out of a Wild Card, having dropped two of three to Texas and Game One of this series in tragic fashion after getting silenced by former friend Dean Kremer, dealt just last week.
I’m thrilled to report that offense was not a problem for the Orioles tonight. Kind of the opposite: they were up 2-0 after two batters, 4-0 after two innings, and despite an offensive slowdown in the fourth inning and after, they stayed afloat for a seemingly easy 5-2 win in the end.
Gunnar Henderson, still in the leadoff spot despite a tough .215 average, turned on the second pitch he saw from Minnesota starter Bradley Ober, a fastball down the middle. Henderson walloped it into the right-field corner for a leadoff double. Pete Alonso was even ruder to the Minnesota righty: he got an 88-mph fastball down the middle and launched it into the seats. 2-0, Orioles, before the Twins had an out.
(The inning could have gone even worse for Ober, who then allowed a single to Christian Encarnacion-Strand and walked Coby Mayo, hitting .444 in his last seven games. But Ober retired Christian Franklin to get out of it down just two.)
After the home team posted a zero against the O’s Brandon Young, the Birds’ hitters returned to the task of hitting Ober. Here, the righty had some bad luck. The O’s No. 9 hitter, catcher Yohel Pozo, hit a soft ground ball up the middle that confused the Twins’ infield, with neither Kaelen Culpepper (at short) nor Kody Clemens (at second) able to scoop it up.
That brought back up the leadoff hitter, Gunnar Henderson. Gunnar was fouling off Ober offerings while the MASN booth reported how Gunnar had gone 18 straight games without a multi-hit game. Then, boom. The shortstop got a low-and-inside fastball and ripped it, loudly, into the stands. “The Birds are bashing it right now!” exulted analyst Ben McDonald. It was 4-0 Orioles.
We were onto the bottom of the second, and Brandon Young had himself a cushion. He’d need it, because the second inning was dicey. Considering Young loaded up the bases for himself with no outs, it could have been much, much worse. He surrendered back-to-back singles to Royce Lewis and Brooks Lee, then hit second-year center fielder Luke Keaschall, who trotted to first. The Twins scored a run on a groundout to second. But another groundout did not go their way: the ball rolled right to Encarnacion-Strand, who fired home with ample time to get the runner at home. One groundball later, and Young was out of trouble with a three-run lead still.
The O’s had one more left in them, too. Ober served CES a meatball, and the O’s third baseman hit an absolute tank, 460 feet away, the longest homer by an Oriole this year. It was a terrible pitch, but a beautiful swing. Wow. 5-1 Orioles.
After his team had given him a homer in each of the first three innings, Young wanted a shutdown third… but it wouldn’t be so easy. Minnesota catcher Ryan Jeffers reached on an infield single, then Josh Bell, too, on a strange catcher’s interference call. (In reality, Bell swung late on a sinker and caught a chunk of Yohel Pozo’s mitt. The O’s backstop left in pain, and was promptly replaced by another new O’s backstop, Carlos Narváez.) After two quick outs, Young was one strike away from ending the inning, but Brooks Lee doubled off a sinker, making it now 5-2. Then it looked like he’d struck out young Luke Keaschall, but the CF challenged, and the call was overturned. While the MASN booth proclaimed this “another stressful outing,” Young finally got a strike three swinging. It’d taken him 62 pitches, but he was through three.
Gunnar next doubled with two outs, making him 3-for-3 on the day, but the Orioles didn’t score, and Young teetered in the fourth. He allowed a leadoff single to rookie Kaelen Culpepper but, with two outs, fell down 3-0 to slugger Josh Bell. “I would pitch Josh Bell extremely carefully here,” said McDonald from the booth. Young was up to the task: a groundball to second kept it 5-2.
The O’s made solid contact against Ober in the fifth and sixth (with three deep flyouts), but both ended up 1-2-3 innings. Brandon Young did not have a 1-2-3 fifth or sixth inning—and frankly, it was a miracle he got this deep in the game, period, given his pitch count was up around ninety before either. In the fifth, he walked the leadoff man, but got a miraculously timed double play. He came back out for the sixth—and it felt scary. But after a leadoff single, he got two quick flyouts. Then, a ground ball took Gunnar well to his backhand; he picked it, slung his arm across his body, and got the third out at first! For Young to complete six and get a quality start tonight (his tenth of the season!) felt like a miracle; what a gutsy effort by the Texan.
The Orioles had a chance to make it 6-2 against Twins lefty Kody Funderburk, but a Pete Alonso single, Jackson Holliday walk, and Tyler O’Neill produced only an out at the plate—feels like the Orioles have more than their fair share of those.
Josh Walker had a lightning-fast seventh inning—it took him just eight pitches. I wasn’t in a hurry or anything tonight, but still, what a breath of fresh air.
Yennier Cano was much messier, allowing a hit and a walk, but he held the line.
The O’s took their swings off lefty sidewinder Taylor Rogers in the ninth (once linked to the O’s as a bullpen target, Rogers has a twin brother, also a pitcher, named Tyler, and just imagine the havoc if this team had a Tyler, a Taylor and a Trevor Rogers on the same staff).
That left the ninth, and Andrew Kittredge. The veteran righty has been a little shady of late, but tonight he was nails. Not only did he get two quick groundball outs, he whiffed Josh Bell convincingly, with a little dipping dart of a sinker. Cool.
Tonight was a much-needed win. It doesn’t fix all the Orioles’ flaws, but they made it look pretty easy tonight.
So, Birdland, who is your vote for Most Birdland of tonight? Brandon Young, who gutted out his tenth quality start of the season with imperfect stuff? Pete Alonso, 3-for-4 with a 2-run home run and a walk? Gunnar Henderson, who came a triple away from the cycle and played some great defense? Christian Encarnacion-Strand, a recent callup who hit a 460-foot monster of a home run?
