O's game blog: Kyle Bradish makes major league debut

After completing a 10-game road trip where they went 3-7, the Orioles begin a three-team, 10-game homestand tonight against Boston. And right-hander Kyle Bradish, acquired from the Angels in the December 2019 Dylan Bundy trade, will get the start for the O's, making his big league debut.

Bradish, who went 2-0 with a 1.20 ERA in three Triple-A starts this year, is ranked as the Orioles' No. 9 prospect via Baseball America and No. 10 by MLBPipeline.com.

In 15 innings at Norfolk - where he went four, five and six innings in successive outings - he allowed eight hits and two earned runs with three walks to 17 strikeouts. He posted a 0.73 WHIP and .148 batting average against.

Bradish ended last year pitching on a roll for Norfolk, giving up two earned runs in 20 innings over his last four starts. So in his past seven Triple-A starts dating to last year, he has a 1.03 ERA, allowing 21 hits in 35 innings with nine walks to 41 strikeouts.

Lefty Rich Hill (0-1, 4.85 ERA) starts for the Red Sox. The 42-year-old Hill has thrown 13 innings this year, giving up 15 hits and seven runs with six walks and seven strikeouts. He has a 1.615 WHIP, a walk rate of 4.2 and strikeout rate of 4.8.

For the Orioles, this is their longest homestand of the season and will feature three games with Boston, four with Minnesota and three with Kansas City.

The Orioles (6-13) went 1-3 at Oakland, 2-1 at Anaheim and 0-3 at New York. They have lost four in a row. During the four games, their pitching, which had a team ERA of 2.89 through Saturday, allowed 34 runs with an ERA of 7.88.

The O’s staff allowed just three homers in the season’s first 14 games, but has given up 12 in the last five.

In Thursday’s 10-5 loss at Yankee Stadium, the Birds produced 10 or more hits for the first time with a season-high 14, which included a season-best seven extra-base hits, all doubles.

The Orioles scored just 24 runs in their first 12 games and have now scored 35 in the last seven, batting .297 (19-for-64) with runners in scoring position in that span. Where they hit just four home runs in the first 14 games, they have now hit five in the past four games.

Note from me: This is the first new game blog in a few days and I'm happy to reach the point where I can do this again. After my medical issue here out west, I get to go home tomorrow and can't wait. Thanks to everyone for their concern and support and not prying too much about what happened here. Being kind of a private person about some things, I am still both sorting it out myself and not ready to say much more.

But over the next few days, I will slowly get back to my normal coverage of the Orioles and just reading that sentence makes me very happy.