BALTIMORE—A long day for Baltimore sports fans ended more than nine hours after it started with losses by both the Ravens and the Orioles.
The Orioles’ season, which ends next Sunday in disappointment, had a few interesting story lines.
There was the first Baltimore appearance by the fastest pitcher in baseball, the Milwaukee Brewers’ Jacob Misiorowski, who’s the favorite for the National League Cy Young Award.
Msiorowski, who’s being primed for the postseason, zipped through three innings, threw 44 pitches, many of them over 100 mph. Carlos Narváez had the only hit against him in the Orioles’ 3-0 loss to the Brewers before 15,337 on Sunday night.
The Orioles were shut out for the second straight game and the eighth time this season. It’s the third time this season the Orioles were shut out in consecutive games, only the second time in franchise history that’s happened, the first time since 1955.
Surely some of the fans attended the Ravens’ annoying 24-17 loss to the New Orleans Saints across the parking lot at M&T Bank Stadium, and they watched the Brewers (98-58) complete a three-game sweep of the Orioles (75-81).
Combined with the Chicago White Sox 8-1 win over the Detroit Tigers, the “tragic number” to eliminate the Orioles from playoff contention is two. The earliest the Orioles can be eliminated is Tuesday night since the White Sox don’t play on Monday.
“I guess at this point it’s continue to win,” Gunnar Henderson said. “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.”
After Misiorowski dazzled the Orioles with his fastest pitch topping out at 102.7 to Pete Alonso, Milwaukee manager Pat Murphy used six relievers, including Kyle Harrison who’s normally a starting pitcher, out of the bullpen.
The Orioles had just four hits, and two scoring chances.
“The quality of arms they run over there is really good,” Orioles manager Craig 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. 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.”
With two outs in the sixth, Chad Patrick hit Henderson with a pitch, threw two wild pitches and walked Coby Mayo and Samuel Basallo before Jeremiah Jackson grounded to first after swinging at the first pitch.
“Probably not the best idea to swing,” Jackson told reporters. “Obviously, in a situation like that, you want to help the team win. 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.”
With Harrison pitching the seventh, Colton Cowser singled, and after centerfielder Garrett Mitchell made an excellent diving catch on Leody Taveras’ liner, Christian Encarnacion-Strand walked before Dylan Beavers and Alonso flied out.
“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.”
Brandon Young (9-5) allowed two runs on three hits in six innings, walking three and striking out a career-high nine batters.
Cooper Pratt’s RBI single scored Jake Bauers in the second, and William Contreras hit his 18th home run, leading off the fourth.
The other curiosity was the 2026 debut of Félix Bautista, who pitched for the first time since July 20th, 2025.
Even though Bautista pitched the seventh inning, the lights darkened and a new hype video greeted him.
Bautista threw 19 pitches while recording two outs. Pratt’s single scored Bauers, who had doubled. Bautista struck out two and walked one with his fastest pitch clocking 98.1 mph.
DL Hall (4-0) retired all five batters he faced, and Trevor Megill worked a perfect ninth for his 29th save.
How did Bautista look? Albernaz wasn’t pleased about much, but he was satisfied with what he saw from Bautista.
“It was great to see him out there,” Albernaz said. “He’s worked so hard, and to come back for 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 … He looked good to me. It was great. I’m sure he had a lot of emotions out there on the mound, rightfully so it was a bright spot of the day to get him in there, and get him back out on the mound.”
How did Young look? For the second straight game, the Orioles got a solid start and their starter was a hard-luck loser.
“I’m pretty pleased with it,” Young said. “Felt great, was executing for the most part, getting ahead, throwing strikes, and was putting them away with two strikes.”
Milwaukee has the best record in baseball and won despite striking out 14 times.
“They’re up there. They’re up there with the Braves and I think the Dodgers lineup, but, yeah, they’re a great team,” Young said. “They don’t let up. They’re well-rounded. But a tough series overall for us.”
After Cowser’s wonderful catch to preserve a 2-1 win at Colorado on August 31st, the Orioles have gone 6-12 in September.
“Disappointing, to say the least,” Young said. “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.”
What does it mean? Bautista, who will probably have another two or three relief outings, didn’t look sharp, but he wasn’t terribly wild.
What’s the stat of the day? 81. The Orioles guaranteed their second straight non-winning season. They must win their final six games to avoid another losing season.
What’s the word? “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.”-Albernaz on Jackson swinging at the first pitch with the bases loaded after nine pitches out of the strike zone.
What’s going on in the minor leagues? Triple-A Norfolk finished its season with a 7-4 loss to Charlotte. They finish 58-89.
Enrique Bradfield Jr. homered and tripled. Aron Estrada had three hits.
Trace Bright allowed six runs on eight hits in four innings. He finishes 2-11 with a 7.70 ERA.
What’s next? The Orioles will begin their final home series against the Toronto Blue Jays on Monday night. Shane Baz (6-15, 4.11) will start against Trey Yesavage (5-5, 3.65) at 6:35.
Call for questions: Most weekdays, I’ll be answering at least one Orioles question. Please send yours to: Rich@BaltimoreBaseball.com
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