BALTIMORE -- During a mid-week bullpen session, Kyle Bradish stated a clear objective, one he wanted to carry into his next start: Throw more curveballs.
In Bradish’s opinion, the curve had been a bright spot during his sluggish start to the season. So, why not try an uptick in the usage of his primary breaking pitch?
“I'd say the curveball has probably felt the best the whole year,” Bradish said.
The game plan worked to perfection. Bradish turned in his best start of the season on Friday night, when he struck out 10 over seven strong innings in the Orioles’ 4-3 loss to the A’s at Camden Yards. The 29-year-old right-hander allowed three runs (all in the fifth) while mostly working around five hits and one walk in a 96-pitch, 60-strike outing.
Bradish set season highs in innings and K’s. But he also established new career highs in curveballs thrown (29), curveball rate (30.2%) and curveball whiffs, as nine of his season-high-tying 15 swing-and-misses generated came on the pitch.
“The curveball, to me, was outstanding tonight,” manager Craig Albernaz said. “Used it to righties and lefties. He had great bite to it, same line as the four-seam [fastball].”
“When he’s throwing that on the right lines -- and with both of his spins being so good and the fastball being so good,” catcher Adley Rutschman added, “when he’s throwing those competitively strike-to-ball or just strike-to-strike, it’s really tough and puts a lot of pressure on.”
This is the version of Bradish that Baltimore expected to get in 2026 -- not the one who had a 5.03 ERA over his first seven outings, only one of which had been a quality start.
When healthy, Bradish has been among the best pitchers in the American League in recent years, recording a 2.78 ERA in 44 starts from 2023-25. His next start will surpass his total from ‘24 and ‘25, as he missed more than a year after getting Tommy John surgery in June 2024.
It’ll be important for the Orioles to get Bradish at his best, especially while Trevor Rogers (illness), Dean Kremer (right quad strain) and Cade Povich (left elbow inflammation) are on the injured list. The O’s entered Friday with a 5.03 rotation ERA.
“Like I've been saying, the issue hasn't been the work between starts, it's just been the starts themselves,” Bradish said of his early struggles. “I was doing some stuff with the lower half to try to keep more weight on my back leg and kind of stay linear down the mound. And that paid off."
The A’s won the game, though, because of their three-run rally in the fifth that began with three straight singles from Jacob Wilson, Lawrence Butler and Zack Gelof and later featured a two-run triple by Nick Kurtz. But Baltimore’s defense wasn’t the cleanest in the inning, which has been a recurring issue this season.
On Gelof’s RBI single, the O’s tried to run a bunt play, because they thought he would lay one down with runners on first and second and no outs. Gelof’s knock would have gone directly to Gunnar Henderson at shortstop, if Henderson hadn’t been moving to cover third base while Weston Wilson crashed in toward the plate.
“That’s on me,” Albernaz said. “I put the bunt play on from the dugout. We were anticipating the bunt. Prep work, everything that we knew about them was that’s where they bunt, especially Gelof. So we were selling out.”
The next batter, Jeff McNeil, hit a grounder up the middle that could have resulted in a double play. But Henderson couldn’t make a clean play on the ball, which trickled over to second baseman Jeremiah Jackson, who had to throw to first to get one out. If the O’s could have turned two, then Kurtz’s triple would have plated only one run.
“I just kind of got myself on an in-between hop,” Henderson said. “Just didn't catch the ball.”
The primary reason why the Orioles couldn’t make Bradish a winner, though, was their lack of offense. They’re now 0-9 against left-handed starting pitchers after A’s southpaw Jacob Lopez (who entered with a 6.60 ERA through seven outings) allowed only two runs in 5 1/3 innings on solo homers to Pete Alonso and Rutschman.
Baltimore is hitting .190 with a .570 OPS against lefty starters this season.
“That’s our Achilles’ heel right now,” Albernaz said. “Us as a coaching staff, we’ve got to solve that problem here very quickly.”