Bradish pitches well in return, Mountcastle, Mateo, McKenna homer in Orioles’ 7-2 win over Yankees

BALTIMORE—After enduring their first shutout of the season the night before, the Orioles hit three home runs and took the final game of a four-game series with the New York Yankees on Thursday.

Right-hander Kyle Bradish pitched well in his first start of the season, and Ryan Mountcastle, Jorge Mateo and Ryan McKenna hit home runs in the Orioles’ 7-2 win over the Yankees before 27,299 at Camden Yards.

The Orioles (20-11) took three of four from the Yankees (20-13) and lead New York in the American League East by a game.

Bradish, who started the season on the injured list because of a sprain of the right ulnar collateral ligament, allowed one run on four hits in 4 2/3 innings, throwing 84 pitches. He struck out five and walked two.

Bradish thought he had a 1-2-3 inning in the first, but his catcher, James McCann, interfered with Aaron Judge’s swing and he was awarded first base. Anthony Rizzo was hit by a pitch, and Gleyber Torres walked to load the bases. Alex Verdugo grounded out to first to end the threat.

The Yankees scored their run against Bradish in the third when Rizzo blooped a two-out single to left field that scored Anthony Volpe, who led off the inning with a double. Leftfielder Colton Cowser appeared to have a play at the plate on Volpe but his throw home was up the first base line.

Bradish struck out Trent Grisham and Volpe to start the fifth. Juan Soto tripled to left on a ball that Cowser appeared to overrun when he attempted to make a difficult catch against the wall. When Judge walked after a couple of close calls that Bradish didn’t get, manager Brandon Hyde went to the bullpen for Keegan Akin (1-0), who retired Rizzo on a popup to short.

Mountcastle hit his fifth home run against Carlos Rodón (2-2) in the third. Jorge Mateo and Ryan McKenna homered in the fourth. It was Mateo’s first home run since an inside-the-park homer in Oakland on August 20^th, 2023, and McKenna’s first since a game-winner against Seattle on June 24^th, 2023.

The Orioles scored four runs to take a 7-1 lead in the fifth on an RBI single by Mountcastle, a two-run triple by Jordan Westburg and a sacrifice fly by Mateo.

Torres led off the sixth with a home run against Akin.

Danny Coulombe, Jacob Webb and Cionel Pérez combined for three scoreless innings.