You would be hard-pressed to find a more relaxing night of baseball as an Orioles fan than the team’s smooth 6-1 win over the Royals on Saturday night. Kyle Bradish twirled a gem, taking a no-hitter into the seventh inning, and the lineup pounded four home runs in support.
Bradish put together one of his better starts of the season. There were really just two innings with some worrying moments. In the third inning, a error by Jackson Holliday, followed by a Carter Jensen walk, put two runners on base ahead of Bobby Witt Jr. That threat quickly dissipated when Witt popped up the first pitch of the at-bat. And then there was the seventh inning, where Jac Caglianone led off with Kansas City’s first hit of the day, moved to second on a ground out, advanced to third on a wild pitch, and then scored on a sac fly.
Now, this was not Bradish at his absolute best. In fact, he was battling quite a bit. His velocity was down slightly. As was his whiff rate (20%) and strikeout rate (five across 6.2 innings). And yet, the Royals struggled to square the ball up. Oftentimes that is the mark of a top tier pitcher, to turn in an impressive showing with less-than-ideal stuff. His season ERA is down to 3.61, the lowest it has been since May 31.
On offense, the Orioles were powerful and efficient. They had one at-bat with a runner in scoring position and cashed in. The other five runs all came in on the quartet of home runs that they bashed.
Samuel Basallo had the team’s one hit with a runner in scoring position. That came in the second inning. Pete Alonso had doubled ahead of him and Basallo singled him in on a slider at his knees. Those two base knocks were the Orioles only hits that didn’t leave the yard. It was a “three true outcomes” kind of night.
Alonso got in on the fun with his 21st long ball of the season. That was a two-run shot in the fourth inning to score Taylor Ward
Coby Mayo had the two hardest hit balls of the evening. In the second inning, he lined out on a ball hit 112.8 miles per hour. In the fifth inning, he launched a ball 440 feet at 110.4 miles per hour for his 12th homer of the year. Have we mentioned that he likes facing left-handed pitching?
Ward launched his sixth dong of the season. It’s his first home run since June 22nd, yet another long stretch for a player that was expected to challenge for the team lead in round-trippers.
Gunnar Henderson was the final Oriole to go yard. He left the park in the eighth inning with a 417-foot bomb to right-center field for his 17th homer of the year.
This lineup was designed to win with power. It hasn’t happened as much this year as the front office would have probably liked for it to. But sometimes they have nights like this and make it very easy to understand what all of the spreadsheets and analysis were illustrating to Mike Elias back in the winter.
The bullpen was also good in this one. Grant Wolfram came on to wrap up the seventh inning for Bradish. He did that, and then got two more outs for fun. Yennier Cano struck out the lone batter he faced in the eighth inning. And then Tyler Wells came on for a shutout ninth inning.
It was an odd sensation to watch this team play a relatively easy game like this. They were in control throughout, and it never felt like things were about to go sideways. That must be how fans of competitive teams feel every night.
On top of that, the Orioles gained a full game in the wild card race tonight. So now, despite the uneven play throughout the first half, they find themselves just two games out of a playoff spot. The win tonight also made it three in a row. They are yet to win four in a row this season. If they reach that threshold on the final day before the all-star break, it will give all of us some very different vibes with trade season on the horizon.
The O’s and Royals will wrap up the unofficial first half of their seasons on Sunday afternoon at Camden Yards. Shane Baz (4-9, 4.21 ERA) is set to duel with Seth Lugo (3-6, 4.56 ERA). First pitch is 1:35.
Most Birdland Player, July 11. 2026
Who do you think was the Most Birdland Player in this Orioles win? Here are some nominees for your consideration, but feel free to name your own in the comments.
- Kyle Bradish (win, 6.2 innings, two hits, one run, two walks, five strikeouts)
- Pete Alonso (2-for-4, home run, double, two RBI, two runs
- Coby Mayo (home run, hitting left-handed pitching really, really hard)
- Grant Wolfram (cleaned up Bradish’s mini jam in the seventh)
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