BALTIMORE—It was both a happy and sad night at Oriole Park on Tuesday night. The Orioles moved closer to the American League East title with a 1-0 win over the Washington Nationals, reducing their magic number to 2.
Tampa Bay beat Boston, 9-7, and the Rays remain 2 1/2 games behind the Orioles, who could clinch the division on Wednesday with a win and a Rays loss.
Less than an hour before gametime, the Orioles announced the death of their most popular player, Brooks Robinson, and when a moment of silence was requested before the game, some in the crowd of 20,283 gasped because they were first learning the news.
For five games, the Orioles hadn’t hit a homer, their longest drought since an eight-game homerless streak in April 2022, but Gunnar Henderson led off with his 28th home run, his 65th extra-base hit, tying Cal Ripken Jr. for the most by an Orioles rookie.
Kyle Bradish (12-7) pitched eight innings, a season high, allowing three hits, walking two and striking out four. He reduced his earned-run average to 2.86.
Bradish allowed a second-inning single to Joey Meneses and fourth-inning singles to Kelbert Ruiz and Luis Garcia. He retired his final seven batters.
Bradish suffered a bruised foot in Texas in his first start of the season and was placed on the 10-day injured list. On April 19th, he was activated and threw six shutout innings, giving up five hits.
Yennier Cano pitched the ninth, striking out the side, for his eighth save.
It was the 11th shutout of the season for the Orioles, who have blanked the Nationals (69-89) in each of their three meetings.
Washington starter Josiah Gray (8-13) allowed the run on five hits in six innings. It was the second 1-0 game he lost to the Orioles this season. On April 18th, he pitched five innings, allowing a run on four hits.
The Orioles (98-59) had multiple runners on only once in the first seven innings. In the second, Austin Hays and Adam Frazier singled with two outs, and Frazier stole second, but Ramón Urías struck out.
In the eighth, Henderson singled and Adley Rutschman walked. Anthony Santander hit into a double play, and with Ryan O’Hearn up, Henderson tried to steal home and was tagged out to end the inning.
Notes: Grayson Rodriguez (6-4, 4.49) will face Patrick Corbin (10-14, 5.13) on Wednesday at 6:35 p.m. … Fans wishing to pay their respects to Brooks Robinson can visit his statue at Legends Park beginning Wednesday at 7 a.m. Visitations continue until four hours before the first pitch and will resume during regular games hours. Fans can continue to visit until Sunday.