Baltimore Orioles Rookie Joined Rare Baseball History in Perfect Game Bid
The Baltimore Orioles shut out the Houston Astros 7-0 on Friday night at Daikin Park in Houston. Baltimore, in last place in the American League East, has now won three of four games. The Astros fell to 68-54, where they are just 0.5 games ahead of the Seattle Mariners in the American League West.
Orioles’ rookie Brandon Young was the story of the game, as he carried a perfect game into the bottom of the eighth inning before a Ramon Urias infield single ended the bid.
Young joined an extremely rare group in baseball history with his effort, according to @OptaSTATS:
Brandon Young of the @Orioles is the fifth rookie pitcher in the last 50 years to have perfect-game bid go at least 7.2 innings, joining Triston McKenzie in 2021, Jorge Lopez in 2018, Travis Wood in 2010 and Orel Hershiser in 1984.
It was the first win of Young’s career, as he’s now 1-6 with a 5.68 ERA. He’s struck out 46 batters in 52.1 innings and he fanned six on Friday. He went eight innings before giving way to the bullpen in the ninth.
Offensively, the Orioles were paced by home runs from Colby Mayo and Dylan Carlson.
The two teams will play again on Saturday night with first pitch coming at 7:10 p.m. ET. Reliever Rico Garcia will open the game for Baltimore while right-hander Jason Alexander goes for the injury-ravaged Astros.
Alexander is 3-1 with a 5.02 ERA. He’s only thrown 37.2 innings this season.
The series wraps up on Sunday.
