Young delivers 1st quality start for struggling Orioles rotation

MIAMI -- With a taxed pitching staff, the Orioles needed length from Brandon Young on Wednesday night at loanDepot park, and the 27-year-old delivered exactly that.

Young turned in his first quality start of the season in Baltimore’s 7-4 win over the Marlins, providing a lift for a club that entered the night with seven pitchers on the injured list. Orioles starters came into Wednesday ranked 25th in the Majors with 1.3 fWAR and 28th with a 4.98 ERA, making Young’s ability to pitch deep into the game important for a bullpen that has carried a heavy workload early this season.

Wednesday marked the first time Young completed six innings in 2026, and after a rough opening frame, he settled in and gave Baltimore the kind of outing it has been searching for.

“That’s the job as a starter is to help the bullpen, give it a chance to win and just to compete,” Young said. “The first didn't go so well, but I had to leave it in the past. Like I said, stay mentally focused, make my pitches.”

Making his fourth start of the year, the right-hander threw 93 pitches and leaned heavily on his four-seam fastball that accounted for more than half of his pitch mix. On Wednesday, it averaged 94.6 mph while generating a 27% called strikes plus whiff rate.

“It felt good,” Young said. “Early on, I didn't really have a plan to just attack on so much. And then kind of learned they're kind of taking the stuff at the bottom, taking the four-seam down, the splitters down there. So I think the goal after that was just to rip the four-seam, and it just worked out.”

The only damage against Young came in the first inning, when he allowed a two-run double to Jakob Marsee and an RBI single to Owen Caissie.

Young then retired 16 of the final 18 batters he faced and finished allowing four hits while striking out five, bringing his ERA to 4.35. He recorded strikeouts with his four-seamer, sinker, curveball and slider as he continues to increase his slider usage this season.

“He responded outstanding,” manager Craig Albernaz said. “Yeah, he gave up three runs in the first, not ideal, but he did a great job of settling back into the game, and he didn't let off the gas. Fastball was in the strike zone. Great job mixing the split, getting the curveball going too early to kind of change speeds, a little push, pull. He did an outstanding job, and to give us six innings was huge.”

For Young, the outing was a response after he struggled in his previous start against Houston, allowing nine hits and 10 runs (four earned) across four innings. It also marked his first appearance against Miami since July 13 of last season, when he surrendered seven runs on nine hits, including three home runs to Kyle Stowers, in 4 1/3 innings.

“[I] didn't really have a choice,” Young said. “I just had to buckle down and make my pitches. Just mentally stay calm and focus and know that I have a job to do, and it's to give the team a chance to win.”

Young’s fastball mirrored what has been a strength for Baltimore offensively this season. The Orioles entered Wednesday ranked second in MLB with a .494 slugging percentage against 95+ mph fastballs and fifth with a .283 batting average against the pitch. Albernaz also noted the impact a quick-working starter can have on the lineup.

“When your starter is out there pushing the pace, getting quick outs and finishing with the pitches like the guys behind him, they also have to go hit the next half inning,” Albernaz said. “So when they're out there standing around for a long time, it usually doesn't help the hitting aspect of it. But when you have quick innings, he gets them off their feet and kind of keeps the momentum and also their engagement in the offense, where they're not out there just watching the pitcher pitch.

“And Young did a great job of staying on attack, even giving up three. A lot of pitchers will shy away sometimes, especially young pitchers, but he did a great job of staying efficient with his pitches and attacking the strike zone.”