Bradish gets set for Triple-A debut, O's offense perks up

The Dylan Bundy trade has been looking pretty good recently for the Orioles. It was a trade from Dec. 4, 2019 with the Los Angeles Angels and the Orioles got four right-handers in return. They added Kyle Bradish, Kyle Brnovich, Zach Peek and Isaac Mattson.

Mattson has already made it to Baltimore and Bradish got one step closer Saturday with his promotion from Double-A Bowie to Triple-A Norfolk.

That was a quick promotion but the 24-year-old Bradish had thrown 13 2/3 scoreless innings on seven hits for the Baysox with five walks to 26 strikeouts. That is a 17.1 strikeout rate to go with a .149 batting average against and 0.88 WHIP.

"He's dominating, he's the right age and we want to continue to challenge him and get him closer to the major leagues. So, this seemed like the right call," Orioles director of player development Matt Blood said in a Sunday interview.

Bradish's last start at Bowie was Wednesday at Richmond, and he fanned 10 with one walk over four scoreless innings. His first start for Norfolk is expected to be tomorrow when the Tides open a six-game home series versus Charlotte.

Bradish made big strides last summer when he was part of the alternate camp at Bowie. He seemed to click with the pitching coaches and showed some mid-90s fastballs, a bit more velocity than some scouting reports gave him credit for.

Rated as the club's No. 12 prospect by both Baseball America and MLBPipeline.com, Bradish recently got some high praise from one scout, who said that when the right-hander is at his best, he is in the class with Grayson Rodriguez and DL Hall. That is indeed a big compliment. He's older and not as highly ranked as that duo, but he's been trending up since the day the club acquired him from the Angels.

He pitches from a not very seldom-seen arm angle, almost straight over the top, and that helps him with the hitters. So does a fastball that has some natural cut to it.

"I think all of his stuff is tough to hit," said Blood. "When we ask our hitters when they face him, they say he is one of the toughest guys they've ever faced. Kind of a unique look. He's more over the top, so the ball moves a little differently for him than it does for other pitchers. Fastball comes from a unique slot and it's firm, and his breaking ball has been lights-out."

At Double-A, Bradish was tough to hit for both lefties (.148 average) and righties (.150 average). He went 4 2/3, five and four innings in his three Bowie games.

With a firm changeup and some swing-and-miss breaking pitches, Bradish is moving up to Triple-A looking to see if his great start plays at the higher level as well.

Adley's big home run: Bowie catcher Adley Rutschman hit one huge homer in the top of the ninth with two outs on Sunday. Bowie was trailing Richmond 4-1 when he blasted a game-tying homer to right center. He hit No. 4 as part of a 3-for-4 day, and Bowie won 5-4 in 10 innings.

Rutschman is now batting a season-high .246 with two doubles, four homers, 13 RBIs and a .908 OPS.

Hall pitched out of a bases-loaded jam in the fourth and threw four scoreless innings on two hits with two walks and eight strikeouts. The lefty's ERA is down to 2.81.

Infielder Jordan Westburg has a sizzling bat right now for low Single-A Delmarva, which beat Carolina 13-3. He has eight straight two-hit games after hitting a two-run homer with three RBIs Sunday.

During the eight games, Westburg is 16-for-29 (.552) with two homers and nine RBIs. For the season, he's batting ,400 with a 1.157 OPS.

Westburg leads the Low-A East in OPS, and two of his teammates are not far behind. Gunnar Henderson is fourth at 1.078 and J.D. Mundy is sixth at 1.044.

Triple-A Norfolk ended a nine-game losing streak by tying Jacksonville 2-2 in the ninth Sunday on Ryan McKenna's solo homer. The Tides won it 4-3 in 11 innings on Austin Wynns' walk-off single.

High Single-A Aberdeen righty Brnovich had a start yesterday that lasted just two outs, with four errors made behind him. His final line showed 2/3 of an inning allowing four hits and eight runs (just one earned) as his ERA increased from 1.15 to 1.65. But miscues behind were made by shortstop Adam Hall, second baseman AJ Graffanino, right fielder Johnny Rizer and first baseman Andrew Daschbach. The IronBirds have had better days than Sunday's 15-3 loss.

The offense is finally producing: Amid a stretch when they have lost six in a row, 10 of 11 and 13 of 15, the Orioles offense, at least, is finally getting going somewhat. They've scored 14 runs over the last two games and 40 runs over the last seven.

In those seven games - in which they've scored five runs or more five times - they are batting .262 with 15 doubles and eight homers, and are batting .328 (21-for-64) with runners in scoring position.

Outfielder Anthony Santander returned to the lineup and had five hits the last two days. In three games at Washington, he went 6-for-13 with two doubles, a homer and two RBIs.

Trey Mancini said Santander's return has him believing the offense has some momentum, finally. And that it might continue.

"I was pretty pleased, I think, overall, especially the last two days with how we took our at-bats," Mancini said. "We got back into a cycle of hitting for the guy in front and the guy behind us. And if the pitches weren't there, we were taking our walks. Keeping the line moving. That's the mentality that we always set out to have and I think, you know, I'm starting to feel it a little bit. But it's just more about being consistent with it too."

Here is how Adley Rutschman's home run sounded on the Bowie broadcast, as called by @PaulFritschner: pic.twitter.com/VtAXK9DYA6

-- Bowie Baysox (@BowieBaysox) May 23, 2021