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HOUSTON – When a pitcher is in a groove, you can look up at the box score in the middle innings and think to yourself, “Oh wow, he’s through four without allowing a hit.” Usually, it doesn't amount to much.
Tonight, many in Daikin Park may have shared that thought about Brandon Young.
The rookie looked sharp through three. Then, he was through four perfect innings. And then five.
Through six, things start to feel real. Through seven, folks at home change their evening plans to find a television.
Young recorded the first two outs of the eighth inning, but surrendered his first hit and baserunner of the game on a 56 mph single off the bat of, you guessed it, former Oriole Ramón Urías. It was a tough play for Young, who fielded the dribbler and delivered a throw wide of first.
That's one you think about for a bit.
History may have just slipped through Young’s fingers, but a start of this caliber in his home state of Texas won’t be lost on him.
"I mean, just growing up here, coming to games here, having family and friends here -- it’s hard to put into words, honestly," Young said.
The right-hander is a native of Lumberton, TX, about an hour and a half drive to Houston. Tonight, Young's parents, grandpa, aunt and uncle were in attendance to watch the best start of his young career.
"I think first game was five," Young said in reflection of his time in this stadium. "I don’t really remember it. My mom was just telling me about it. Berkman, Biggio, Bagwell, Killer B’s. Came here since I was five. Sat in the right-field line all the time. Think tickets were like seven bucks back then. Yeah, I mean, it means a lot coming here."
"He’s a competitor," Jordan Westburg said of Young. "I love the way he takes the mound. I love the demeanor he has. I figured it was only a matter of time before he put something out like this."
Gunnar Henderson echoed that sentiment.
"Obviously, he had a rough start when he got called up, but I know the competitor he is," the star shortstop said. "I’ve played with him for years now, I’ve seen him throw a lot of great games, so I knew it was only a matter of time. That was unreal tonight."
The outing was, by far, the best of Young's career. His previous best came in a six-inning, two-run game against the Toronto Blue Jays. Carrying a perfect game into the seventh inning takes the cake.
Fastball command and pitch efficiency are typically the biggest indicators for what kind of Young start it will be. Tonight, both were on point.
"He has to pitch, and he pitched," Tony Mansolino said of the young starter, who doesn't have the elite fastball velocity to get away with middle-middle mistakes. "He used different parts of the plate, he mixed it up. Adley called an incredible game."
The catcher knew what Young was capable of.
"I think his mound presence is just super mature," Rutschman said. "You can tell when he goes out on the mound, he’s the same guy whether it’s going good or going bad. Just even-keel, sticks to his process and goes out there and does it ...
He is accountable," he added. "The guy’s willing to say when he didn’t do as good as he could’ve. But, you know, he’s a really good pitcher and I was really proud of him today.”
As was his interim skipper.
"BY executed the whole night, kept his nerves in check," Mansolino said.
The mental side of a perfect-game bid really kicks in down the stretch.
"Yeah, everybody knows," Mansolino said with a smile. "BY knew, pitching coaches knew, players knew. Yeah, you know. And BY’s such a wonderful teammate and such a wonderful kid that, I promise you, those defenders out there were going to do everything they could to catch every single ball that they hit."
Young hadn't thrown a perfect game since he was a 15-year-old in travel ball. Westburg didn't have that kind of experience in the infield dirt.
"I’ve never played behind somebody who’s taking a no-hit bid that long," Westburg said. "Super cool to be a part of that. I’m happy for him to get his first win. Knew it was only a matter of time."
But, of course, who else but Urías.
"I mean, of course it was him that got the hit, but I love Ramón," Henderson said.
It was a night to remember for Young, who recorded his first professional win in incredible fashion.
"I can kind of get that monkey off my back and kind of breathe a little bit," he said.
The O's offense, though not the story of the night, really came to play, too. It was complete domination from start to finish for the Orioles, as they came away with a 7-0 victory over the Astros.
Entering the third, things looked like a soccer score at 0-0. Young’s fastball was working early and often, inducing four of his first six outs with his four-seamer. All four of those outs came on balls put in play, with just one reaching the 95 mph hard-hit threshold.
In the fourth, his offense got him some run support.
Right-handed sluggers typically enjoy playing in Houston, thanks to the short porch in left known as the Crawford Boxes. Coby Mayo introduced himself to them, launching a line drive to left that just snuck over the wall. When it found the crowd, it gave the Orioles a 1-0 lead.
One frame later, Baltimore had the chance to do even more damage.
With one out and the bases juiced, Gunnar Henderson stepped into the batter's box for a tough left-on-left matchup with Framber Valdez. Henderson worked a full count, and flared a fly ball into left field.
It was just deep enough to score Daniel Johnson from third. But as the ball kicked away from Astros catcher Yainer Diaz, Jackson Holliday aggressively pushed for home and came around to score, too. So, a sac fly that maybe had the distance to score one scored two. Just like that, it was 3-0 Orioles.
"Threw up four runs on Framber? That’s one of the greatest pitchers in the game right now," Mansolino said. "For nine innings, we were one of the best teams in baseball tonight. And that’s baseball, that’s the beautiful part about it."
Young continued to cruise through five innings of work, and suddenly, the zero in the hit column began to become more apparent. That’s the kind of game whose description thou shall not utter.
The fastball was sharp, his splitter was working and there weren’t many non-competitive pitches. The rookie was on the attack and efficient in the process.
And then, he was through six innings. Round numbers filled every baserunner column.
Henderson gave him another run of support in the top of the seventh, but that wasn’t exactly the storyline.
In the seventh, Young got a groundout, a flyout and then found himself down 3-0 to Jesús Sanchez. A four-seam fastball found the zone, as did another. And after a foul ball, Young got Sanchez to ground out to Mayo, who connected with a sprinting Young to first on a play that surely had O’s fans holding their breath.
Through seven.
The Orioles offense tacked on some more runs in the eighth, highlighted by another knock from Jeremiah Jackson and a two-run homer from Dylan Carlson. The O’s bats were, of course, taking a back seat, but delivered seven runs on a dozen hits through eight innings.
To the bottom of the eighth we went. Young delivered a punchout to start the frame.
Then, a flyout saw Greg Allen and Johnson collide in right-centetr, but they held onto the ball.
Then, Urías stepped into the dish.
The former Oriole dribbled one in front of the plate, 56 mph off the bat. Young bare-handed it, flipped and fired to first, but it was offline. Urías advanced to second on what was ruled a hit and an error, and there it went. No no-hitter, no perfect game.
But still, it was an unbelievable night out of Young. He struck out Taylor Trammell to end the eighth, and his night ended there.
Eight innings, surrendering one hit, a weak one at that, with six punchouts and no walks.
Yaramil Hiraldo wrapped things up, and that was the ballgame. It was a night that Young won't forget, and it was almost even more.
History was within the grasp of the Orioles tonight.
The word "if" will be thrown around regarding a split-second, eighth-inning decision between a sprinting Young and a charging Westburg on a dribbler from their former teammate. If the young pitcher had set his feet before firing to first. If Westburg had taken charge to field the ball. Those are hypotheticals that are easy to pose in hindsight.
But what's certain upon reflection is this: Young provided one of the best moments of the Orioles' season, coming within four outs of history in front of his loved ones, in a ballpark that he has fond childhood memories in. His stuff and his execution converged to create a perfect storm on the mound, akin to a power-up pitch in Mario Super Sluggers with each delivery.
Yes, as poetic justice would have it, Young's former teammate was the one to end the rookie's bid at perfection.
Perhaps for a moment, though, consider what the five-year-old Young would say about this game in Houston as he sat in those seven-dollar seats down the right-field line. The emotion and heart-pounding drama felt with every out recorded down the stretch. The moments shared with loved ones to your left and right, and strangers that become friends sharing in your joy and distress.
On any given night, one of 162, something special can happen.
The interim skipper was onto something: that's the beauty of baseball.
