Kyle Bradish Dominates as Orioles Defeat Angels in Series Opener
If you didn’t know better, if you hadn’t been watching the rest of the 2026 Orioles season, then you may be tempted after a game like this one to go away thinking that things are going to be just fine with the Orioles. Maybe we’re in the middle of them finally doing it. Perhaps. They need games like this one to happen more often than they have.Kyle Bradish had a fantastic game against his previous organization, pitching eight scoreless innings with nine strikeouts to help propel the Orioles to a relatively easy 6-1 win against the Angels.
The Orioles were ahead in this game from the opening hitter. Taylor Ward, who hit 36 homers for the Angels last year, greeted his former team with a 419-foot drive over the center-field fence. The Orioles have not been hitting home runs at such a powerful clip for Ward, acquired in the summer for Grayson Rodriguez. It was only his fifth long ball of the campaign.
Bradish was almost good enough to do it himself in one run. That’s not to suggest it didn’t always look like that. The Angels threatened to respond with a run in the bottom of the first following a couple of one-out singles. There have been plenty of games this year where the defense or the pitcher or both just break down and give up the lead they just got.
Bradish did not cause the collapse Monday night. He was rocking it. The first inning was as close as they ever came to scoring off of him. The next seven innings he cruised, not letting more than a single runner in any other inning. He coaxed a ground-ball double play just after the only time he allowed the leadoff man to reach. And, importantly, he was fairly economical with his deliveries, the true reason he was able to go the distance. Bradish finished with 101 pitches. It wasn’t a full game, but it was the type of start the O’s have been desperately wanting from him and others this season.
Bradish was on fire, but the Orioles offense didn’t do that thing where they score early and then fall asleep. Well, sort of. Angels starter Sam Aldegheri did retire nine straight Orioles after yielding the opening shot to Ward. The streak ended when Gunnar Henderson walked to start the fourth.Pete Alonso muscles a gentle liner over the shortstop’s head and into left field.
The Orioles have blown many of “two on, nobody out” rallies this season.Coby Mayo quickly quelled any questions about that when he touched a bottom-of-the-zone changeup and sent it out into the seats in left field. It didn’t make it over the fence by much, but it is enough. That would have been a home run at 28 ballparks, but not at Camden Yards. On the road, it’s an Earl Weaver special, with the Orioles already leading 4-0.
Bradish didn’t need the insurance but the offense tacked on a run in the fifth and a run in the seventh. Overall, a good game with 11 hits. Henderson had three of those hits, pushing his on-base percentage back above .300 for the first time since, get this, April 15. That’s another person the Orioles need to “get back” if they’re going to sustain good things this season. The top four hitters in the lineup all scored at least one run and drove in at least one run.
However, the win wasn’t without its cost as an in-game injury brought about more than a little bit of commotion. Third baseman Blaze Alexander started the second inning with a foul ball off his leg on his way to striking out. Alexander wasn’t able to take the field an inning later and the Orioles had to bring a sub in for him.
Problem: Jackson Holliday, seemingly unavailable due to groin tightness, recent Orioles roster decisions leaving them destitute of any extra bench infielders, Mayo already in as the designated hitter, that meant it was emergency substitute time. I mean Leody Taveras playing third base level of emergency, the first time Taveras has ever played anywhere in the infield in a professional career that goes back to 2016. Of course the first ball in play after Taveras came in was a grounder to third. He grabbed it and threw it to first. Alonso had to make a good save to avoid it becoming an error, but the chance was still finished.
“He got hit with the foul ball, and it just locked up on him an inning later,” manager Craig Albernaz said after the game. The Orioles don’t seem to be worried about a long-term injury situation here, but if Alexander and Holliday can’t go tonight, they could have to make a roster trade for an infielder so they don’t have to get strange again. The Orioles gave Taveras just one ground ball chance before they gave up the DH to move Mayo to third in the ninth.
The Angels finally struck in the eighth.Jorge Soler leadoff homer off Rico Garcia. That continues a difficult June for Garcia, who has allowed five earned runs in seven innings pitched. Still, his ERA is low at 1.95 and that was the only guy he let on base in Monday’s game, so the game never got too dramatic there late on.
It’s the Orioles’ sixth three-game winning streak of the season. They haven’t won four in a row in the last five tries. Is now the time they can change that, against the team with the worst record in the AL? Tuesday’s game will give us the answer one way or the other.Orioles starter Shane Baz will open the 9:38 Eastern game, with the Angels sending Ryan Anderson to the mound. Anderson is 0-1 with a 12.83 ERA in five games. Finally, Orioles, let’s go do this thing. It’s about damn time.
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