Gunnar Henderson chucked his helmet and bat, stripped off his protective padding and dumped it near home plate. He moved further up the line to grab his glove from a teammate.

The frustration was palpable. And understandable.

It also spilled into the dugout, where manager Craig Albernaz stood and watched.

Henderson was the first strikeout victim of Brewers ace Jacob Misiorowski, who blew a 102.7 mph fastball past him. Misiorowski sat in triple digits with nine four-seamers among his 13 pitches in the first inning. To dial it down meant mixing in a slider or cutter.

Misiorowski was removed after three scoreless innings to keep him fresh for the playoffs. His exit and the parade of relievers didn’t provide a spark for the Orioles, who lost again 3-0 to complete the sweep before an announced crowd of 15,337 at Camden Yards.

The Orioles are 75-81 after their eighth shutout and second in two games. They’re guaranteed a second straight non-winning season.

The White Sox and Guardians won tonight, and the Orioles fell five back for the last Wild Card. The elimination number is two, and the earliest it could happen is Tuesday night.  

“I think we all know in here how much it means, and how disappointed we are as a whole,” said starter Brandon Young. “It is what it is. We’re a great ballclub. We know we can play ball with any of these guys, any team. We’ve shown it throughout the year. It just sucks that, you know, at a crucial moment. It’s tough.”

“Obviously, they’ve got a good group of arms over there, but still, we obviously should have put up some better at-bats,” Henderson said. “I feel like I didn’t help on that end. So yeah, it just sucks because the starting staff and the bullpen, they all threw exceptionally well this series. Yeah, it really sucks. And yeah, it ticks me off that we couldn’t get any runs for them.”

The Orioles haven’t scored in 19 consecutive innings, the longest stretch since going 25 from July 9-12, 2024. This is the second time in franchise history that they’ve been blanked in consecutive games at least three times in the same season, the other in 1955.

“Tonight, the quality of arms they run over there is really good,” Albernaz said. “Like Miz is, he’s one of the best pitchers in the game, and we got to see why. Their bullpen is pretty elite, but also, we didn’t do ourselves any favors.”

This is where Albernaz fumed.

Coby Mayo extended his on-base streak to 23 consecutive games with an infield single in the fourth against reliever Antonio Sanzatela. He walked with two outs in the sixth after Chad Patrick hit Henderson and threw two wild pitches, Samuel Basallo also walked, and Jeremiah Jackson swung at the first pitch and grounded out.

“Swinging, bases loaded after nine pitches not in the strike zone was shocking and, like, I’m embarrassed. Like that’s not winning baseball. That’s not baseball, period,” Albernaz said.

“You would gather that that’s something that you would learn along the way. Not in professional baseball, just in baseball in general. But ultimately that falls on me because he swung. And that’s something that will be addressed moving forward. And also, this standard has to be high to win baseball games here and that also is going to be addressed, as well.”

Jackson told media waiting at his locker that it was “probably not the best idea to swing.”

“Obviously, in a situation like that, you want to help the team win,” he said. “I was just trying to get something over the heart of the plate, got it. Obviously, given the at-bats before, I probably should have just not swung. So that’s on me.”

Brandon Young struck out the side in the first inning but surrendered a two-out RBI single to Cooper Pratt in the second after Jake Bauers’ leadoff walk. William Contreras led off the fourth with a home run.

Young struck out a career-high nine batters over six innings and allowed two runs and three hits with three walks. He came out after 84 pitches and with his ERA at 3.62.

“I’m pretty pleased with it,” he said. “Felt great, was executing for the most part, getting ahead, throwing strikes, and was putting them away with two strikes. So, yeah, pleased with that and how I’m feeling overall.”

Aroldis Chapman threw the fastest pitch against the Orioles in the Statcast era at 105.1 mph during J.J. Hardy’s at-bat on July 18, 2016 at Yankee Stadium. He also hit 104.9 and 104.3  against Ryan Flaherty, 104.4 against Nolan Reimold, and 104 against Hardy.

Eyes kept darting to the radar postings tonight with Misiorowski on the mound.

Leadoff hitter Dylan Beavers saw fastballs at 100.5 mph, 101.1 and 100.8 and flied to the warning track in right field. Pete Alonso was exposed to 102.5 mph, 101, 102.1, 92.6 (slider) and 102.6, the at-bat concluding with a grounder to short.  

Jackson ended the second inning by trying to check his swing on an 88.9 mph curveball that seemed downright unfair.

The first eight Orioles were retired before Carlos Narváez, with his .164 average heading into tonight, poked a cutter into left field for a single. Reverse locks don’t only apply to games.

Beavers worked the count full and whiffed on a curveball.

Narváez also threw out two runners attempting to steal in the first four innings.

Mitchell raced into right-center field and made a diving catch to rob Leody Taveras in the seventh after Kyle Harrison walked Colton Cowser. Pinch-hitter Christian Encarnacion-Strand walked, former Oriole DL Hall entered, and another rally fizzled.

The Orioles were 0-for-3 with runners in scoring position and stranded eight. They’re 9-for-65 since Sept. 12.

Sweeping the Mets didn’t carry over to the Brewers series.

“It’s the nature of the marathon season, 162, and that’s why you can’t get emotional,” Albernaz said. “Like when you’re not as good as you think you are, you’re not as bad as you think you are. And it’s, you’re always somewhere in between and you just have to go out, because every night we go out, we’re playing against the best in the world.”

Said Henderson: “I guess at this point it’s continue to win. Anything can happen at this point in the season. I mean, obviously we haven’t really given ourselves a big shot after getting swept here. But still just go out there and continue to win ballgames. Who knows? Crazier things have happened. It’s all we can do is just go out there and do that, and yeah, just play to win.”

Mountain Time

The whistle, the flashing lights, the hype video. Félix Bautista was back.

Bautista entered in the seventh inning for his first major league appearance since July 20, 2025. Jake Bauers greeted him with a leadoff double to center field at 105.7 mph.

Joey Ortiz struck out for the third time tonight, chasing a splitter from Bautista. Christian Yelich also struck out on a splitter, but Pratt dumped a first-pitch sinker into center field for a 3-0 lead.

Garrett Mitchell walked and Bautista was taken out after 19 pitches. He removed his cap and looked up to the sky as the crowd stood again to cheer him.

Bautista’s sinker topped at 98.1 mph.

“It was great to see him out there,” Albernaz said. “He’s worked so hard, and to come back from what he’s gone through, to see him out there throwing, that was awesome. But he looked good. The fastball velo was there. The slider was a great strike stealer. The split was there.

“I didn’t want to get into that 20-pitch threshold, which is why I brought it Wolfie (Grant Wolfram) for his first outing. He came out fine. He looked good to me. It was great. I’m sure he had a lot of emotions out there on the mound, and rightfully so, so it was a bright spot of the day to get him in there and get him back out on the mound.”