Nights such as Wednesday don’t surprise Orioles rookie infielder Joey Ortiz. He’s been watching Kyle Bradish dominate since their college days at New Mexico State.
“Ever since I’ve known him, he’s always been, like, the best pitcher I’ve ever seen,” Ortiz said. “The stuff he’s got, to me, it looks unhittable.”
The Los Angeles Angels were left largely feeling the same way Wednesday night, as Bradish, once a member of their minor league system, held them to one run on four hits in 6 2/3 innings as the Orioles won, 3-1, at Camden Yards. He struck out five with no walks as Baltimore nearly went a second straight night without issuing a free pass.
The Angels took Bradish in the fourth round of the 2018 draft, with the Orioles taking Ortiz in the same round the next year. The subsequent offseason, they became members of the same organization, when Bradish and three other young right-handers were traded to Baltimore for starting pitcher Dylan Bundy. On Wednesday night, Bundy pitched against the Orioles’ Triple-A team for the New York Mets’ top affiliate and was ejected for a foreign substance violation.
Bradish, a 26-year-old in his second season in Baltimore’s rotation, was always considered the centerpiece of the trade, with the Orioles also receiving Isaac Mattson, a reliever who made his debut with Baltimore but is no longer with the organization, and Zach Peek and Kyle Brnovich, two minor leaguers recovering from Tommy John elbow reconstruction surgery. But his future as a starter was initially questioned. On Wednesday, he showed the Angels what they’re missing, with some defensive help from his former college teammate.
Bradish retired the first six Angels he faced before a single opened the third, with Ortiz’s diving stop at shortstop leading to a forceout preventing the runner from advancing to second. After Cedric Mullins walked and came around to score on Ryan Mountcastle’s single to give the Orioles (28-15) the lead in the third, Bradish gave it back on a home run by superstar Mike Trout, with the ball ticking off Mullins’ glove in center to open the fourth.
Mullins broke the tie with an RBI single in the inning’s bottom half. Bradish allowed a single to open the third, but a ground ball to Ortiz followed, and the young shortstop went to the bag himself and threw to first for a double play. That sparked a run of seven straight batters retired for Bradish — with Austin Hays doubling Baltimore’s lead with an opposite-field home run in the fifth — before a bloop single on his 94th pitch ended his night.
Bradish’s slider tied his four-seamer for his most-used offering, following a formula that led to success in last year’s second half, when he posted a 3.28 ERA in 13 starts after an injured list stint. Wednesday lowered his ERA this season to 3.90, with Danny Coulombe recording the final out of the seventh before Yennier Cano and Félix Bautista worked a scoreless inning each. Bautista’s featured some tension, with a one-out walk of Trout bringing up the potential tying run, but Baltimore’s closer struck out two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani before Hunter Renfroe flew out to deep center to end the game.
This story will be updated.
Angels at Orioles
Thursday, 12:35 p.m.
TV: MASN2, MLB Network
Radio: 97.9 FM, 101.5 FM, 1090 AM
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