Young’s solid start, Henderson’s homer lift Orioles to 2-1 win over White Sox

CHICAGO—What happened? The Orioles needed a starter for Monday night’s game, and with relief pitcher Dietrich Enns’ left foot infection sending him to the injured list, Brandon Young was recalled from Triple-A Norfolk.

Oriole starters have pitched at least five innings just four times in their first nine games, and Young gave them a solid five.

Getting through the Chicago White Sox’s lineup twice, Young allowed just two hits in five scoreless innings in the Orioles’ 2-1 win over the Chicago White Sox before 17,221 at Rate Field.

After a difficult weekend in Pittsburgh where the Orioles lost three straight and had two short starts, including Chris Bassitt’s two-inning effort on Sunday, they badly needed Young’s start.

Throwing 66 pitches, Young walked two and struck out two. Former Oriole Austin Hays had a leadoff single in the single and Chase Meidroth’s third-inning double were the only hits he allowed.

“That was awesome,” manager Craig Albernaz said. “He stepped up big for us. To give us five innings, not give up any runs, was huge. He went right up to his pitch count, as well. So it worked out great. He threw the ball well for us, kept us in the game. Could say a lot of things about Brandon Young right now, but that was outstanding what he did today.”

Tyler Wells gave up one hit and walked one while striking out three, pitching the sixth and seventh.

Rico Garcia continued his outstanding start, retiring all three batters he faced. Garcia hasn’t allowed a hit in 4 2/3 innings.

Ryan Helsley, who lost Saturday night’s game in Pittsburgh, walked Munetaka Murakami and Miguel Vargas to begin the ninth. Colson Montgomery hit a shot behind first base that Pete Alonso nicely stopped and threw to Helsley for the first out.

“That was crucial,” Albernaz said. “Pete’s defense has been better than we expected, and that’s a credit to him and the work that he’s put in. But, yeah, that play down the line, that’s not an easy play, and great job by Helsley, because he was on top of first base. He didn’t break late. It was an outstanding play all around.”

Lenyn Sosa grounded to short, scoring Murakami. Andrew Benintendi’s reached on a slow roller to third. Edgar Quero struck out, and Helsley recorded his third save but has yet to pitch a clean inning in four appearances.

Before the game, Albernaz said he wasn’t worried about the team’s offense, which had produced just 34 runs in the first nine games. 

“That’s definitely not a cause for concern,” he said. “We’re getting pitches to hit. We’re getting barrels to it. We’re hitting it hard. We just haven’t hit any home runs. I’ll bank on that process of our hitters all year.”

The Orioles (4-6) scored just two runs, but it was enough.

With two outs in the fourth, Adley Rutschman walked against Erick Fedde. Tyler O’Neill popped to left field, and it barely stayed fair. Hays strained his right hamstring trying to catch the ball, and Rutschman scored from first.

O’Neill, who made a diving catch on Tristan Peters’ drive in the third, thought the ball was foul and didn’t immediately run. Had he run, he would have ended up on second instead of first and scored on Ryan Mountcastle’s single.

The Orioles  had to settle for just one run in the fourth.

Gunnar Henderson hit his third home run in the sixth.

What was Young’s day like? Young found out on Sunday he was getting called up.

“They ended up telling me I was starting, but it was kind of just, ‘Hey, get up there. Might pitch tomorrow,” Young said.

He pitched well, earning his second major win. The first one came on August 15^th, 2025 when he threw 7 2/3 perfect innings against Houston.

“It was pretty cool, again, just being back with the team, just giving us a chance to win,” he said. “I know, obviously, I haven’t been up, so seeing the last series against Pitt and just trying to do my job and give the team a chance to win, it felt good. It felt nice.”

Young was optioned to minor league camp on March 7^th.

What was O’Neill thinking? Albernaz said the Orioles’ bench was certain that O’Neill’s fly ball was going to land in the seats instead of staying fair.

“It’s in the seats,” Albernaz said the team was yelling. “And that’s when Tyler actually took a step back to home plate, and he realized he had to run, and we’re all screaming at him from the dugout.

“From our vantage point, it looked like it was going to be in the seats. What was missing on that play was Adley. Adley just running hard out of the box with two outs. Being able to score on that was really impressive and that was a huge run for us.”

Henderson hits one: Henderson hit his third home run in 10 games, and it proved to be the decisive run.

“I mean, the elements today are not in the hitters’, pretty much any favor, but yeah, any runs you can put across in this type of weather, they’re big because it’s hard to string hits along in this type of [cold],” Henderson said. He mentioned in his postgame interview on MASN that he has to keep his head still to hit and hasn’t been doing that. “You need to see it to hit it,” he said.

The shortstop also made a key defensive play in the bottom of the seventh when Chicago’s Derek Hill briefly came off the second base bag on a steal attempt while Henderson continued to apply the tag. Hill was initially ruled safe, but the call was overturned.

Henderson said he’s not worried about the team’s slow start.

“I mean, it’s still a new clubhouse,” he said. “We’re trying to figure out each other and, I mean, it takes a little time. Everything’s not just going to click on all cylinders from Day 1.

“I wish it would, but that’s just not the reality of things. But we’re putting ourselves in a good spot and we’ve been in just about every game that we’ve played, so yeah, I think it’s just a matter of meshing or getting that mesh in. It’s just kind of that feel out period, and I think whenever we get going it’s going to be a really good ride.”

Albernaz likes Henderson’s work ethic and demeanor.

“The first two at-bats, he strikes out and next thing you know, in the third at-bat, he puts one in the seats,” Albernaz said. “That’s Gunnar, where he doesn’t get too high or low. He shows his frustration, but he’s never out of the game, never mentally out of it and you always know when he’s up there, he’s locked into that at-bat, never giving at-bats away.”

Orioles trade for Nick Raquet: The Orioles obtained left-handed pitcher Nick Raquet from the St. Louis Cardinals in exchange for minor league outfielder Brayden Smith.

Raquet pitched two hitless innings for the Cardinals last season. Smith was the Orioles’ 13^th-round draft choice in 2025, playing 16 games for Single-A Delmarva last year and one game for High-A Frederick this year.

The trade was first reported by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and Ari Alexander of Boston 7 Sports and confirmed by industry sources.

What does it mean? The Orioles still aren’t hitting and won’t win many games scoring just two runs. 

What’s the stat of the day? 2-1. The Orioles have won two games by a 2-1 score — Opening Day and Monday night.

What’s the word?  “It definitely crosses your mind. It’s not something that last week in Memphis that I was really thinking about. Definitely earlier than I thought I would be up here, but you can’t beat that.”-Young on his surprise start.

What’s next? Trevor Rogers (2-0, 1.38) will start against Shane Smith (0-2, 19.29) in a game that’s now scheduled for 3:10 p.m. because the forecast is calling for frigid temperatures.

Call for questions: I answer Orioles questions most weekdays. Please send yours to: Rich@BaltimoreBaseball.com