Baltimore Orioles: Kyle Bradish’s historic outing against St. Louis Cardinals
Kyle Bradish, the 10th-ranked prospect (third-ranked pitching prospect) in the Baltimore Orioles system, made his third career start on Tuesday against the St. Louis Cardinals. In that outing, he matched some of the best pitching performances not only in Orioles rookie pitching history, but also in the franchise’s overall pitching history.
How Kyle Bradish stamped his name on the Baltimore Orioles pitching record books
The last Baltimore Orioles rookie pitcher to have 10 strikeouts in a game before Bradish’s incredible effort on Tuesday night against the Cardinals (11 strikeouts) was Wei-Yen Chen, who came over from the Japanese Central League in 2012. Before Wei-Yen Chen, it has only happened two other times since the team moved from St. Louis (as the Browns) to Baltimore in 1952.
Bradish did more than just have a historic night for Orioles rookie pitchers, he also had a night that only six other Orioles pitchers have had before him. Bradish is only the seventh pitcher in Orioles history to log seven innings and have 10 or more strikeouts with no walks. This performance came against a Cardinals team that had the third-fewest combined strikeouts coming into Tuesday night’s game. It was also Baltimore fourth consecutive quality start.
This game would prove to have a lot of firsts for Orioles rookie pitchers. It would be a big evening for not only Kyle Bradish, who would earn his first MLB win, lowering his season ERA to 4.24 through three starts, but also Felix Bautista. The 26-year-old right-hander would also record a first, his first MLB save by coming in the ninth and striking out the only batter he faced while reaching just under 102 mph on back-to-back nights.
1 batter faced + 1 strikeout = 1st career save
— MLB Pipeline (@MLBPipeline) May 11, 2022
No. 30 @Orioles prospect Felix Bautista ramped up as high as 101.9 mph while slamming the door: pic.twitter.com/Gs9fzrDd6F
Next. Jorge Mateo is finally getting his chance. dark
The next time we see a Bradish start should be either May 15 against the Detroit Tigers or May 16 when the Orioles start a seven-game homestand against the New York Yankees. That homestand could have another big-name rookie called up (possibly the second-ranked prospect in all of baseball) in Adley Rutschman, who is currently playing in Triple-A Norfolk.