SEATTLE – On Wednesday night, Kyle Bradish went where no Oriole has gone this season.
The veteran right-hander was in control for most of the game in a 5-3 victory over the Mariners on Wednesday night in T-Mobile Park, and he went 7 2/3 innings, marking the longest start by a Baltimore pitcher this season.
Bradish gave up one run on five hits while posting a career-high 12 strikeouts. He became the first Orioles pitcher with 12 or more strikeouts since John Means in his 27-up, 27-down no-hitter on May 5, 2021 -- which also came in Seattle.
“K.B. was outstanding tonight,” Orioles manager Craig Albernaz said. “I mean, 100 pitches, 12 strikeouts, one walk, he obviously was efficient, but the pairing of the two breaking balls with the heater was really fun to watch. There were some really good pitches on some really good hitters that they got them to chase, and that just speaks to the stuff that K.B. has.”
Bradish got all the offensive support he’d need in the top of the third inning when Blaze Alexander singled off Seattle starter George Kirby and two batters later, Gunnar Henderson hit a towering fly ball to right field that landed in the first row of the bleachers to give Baltimore a 2-0 lead.
The Mariners got on the scoreboard in the bottom of the fourth inning when Julio Rodríguez hit a two-out double to right-center field and the next hitter, Dominic Canzone, singled up the middle for an RBI to make it 2-1. But Bradish escaped from that jam and got out of another potential spot of trouble in the seventh when he issued a leadoff walk to Canzone but retired the next three batters in order.
Bradish came into the game having struggled in his previous two starts, giving up a combined 10 earned runs on 16 hits in eight combined innings against Toronto and the Mariners, whom the Orioles faced in Baltimore on June 11.
But Bradish said that previous outing vs. Seattle was better than it looked -- at least from his perspective.
“Last outing, I felt really good,” Bradish said. “It was probably the best I felt all year. And, like I said after the game, I didn’t make bad pitches, they just put good swings on it. I think we tweaked some of the locations, and you saw that out there today. We got a lot more chase and swing and miss.”
He also got help from his defense.
In the fifth inning, center fielder Leody Taveras initially misplayed a sinking line drive off the bat of Connor Joe, but he recovered quickly and fired to Henderson, who threw a strike to Alexander at third to nail Joe for a crucial out.
And in the bottom of the sixth, right fielder Tyler O’Neill leapt at the wall to rob Cal Raleigh of a home run.
“Defense has been great,” Bradish said. “Those plays really picked me up. It changes the game. T.O., he robbed the homer right there. It kind of keeps the game at bay, and then we get some add-on runs later in the game.”
The Orioles tacked on an insurance run in the top of the sixth on a Taveras RBI triple and another in the seventh when Jackson Holliday scored from third on a Taylor Ward double-play grounder. Holliday tacked on another run in the ninth with a homer to center off Michael Rucker.
“We just put together big at-bats, flushed what happened yesterday, and … I wouldn't say we put it on them today, but we just had really good at-bats, a good approach all around, and [it was] good enough for a win,” said Alexander, who went 3-for-3 for the game, adding a stolen base and a walk.
Orioles closer Ryan Helsley made his first appearance since coming back from the injured list and gave up back-to-back home runs on consecutive pitches to Canzone and Young in the bottom of the ninth, but he retired the next three batters to close out the win.
“They were on the first-pitch heater, those two guys, and they did a great job of getting to him, but it was great to see Helsley back out there,” Albernaz said. “He was efficient, his slider looked great, the split looked great, and he was throwing strikes.”