Orioles thwarted by Berríos again in 3-1 loss (updated)

To get his first career win in his own division and finally slay the Blue Jays, who battered him last season, Kyle Bradish needed to outduel the pitcher who hadn’t lost to the Orioles in 12 starts.

A pitcher who was perfect through four innings and unhittable until the seventh.

Bradish had good stuff and bad timing.

José Berríos retired the first 13 batters and was still eyeing history when Adley Rutschman singled into center field leading off the seventh. Just a minor glitch for Berríos, who again brought his best against the Orioles.

George Springer homered off Bradish with one out in the sixth, a changeup traveling 437 feet to left field, and the Blue Jays didn’t seem to need anything else in a 3-1 win before an announced crowd of 16,083 at Camden Yards.

They got it anyway, and the tack-on runs became important. Danny Coulombe was charged with two runs in the eighth and the Orioles’ winning streak ended at five games, but only after two-out singles by Ryan O'Hearn, Austin Hays and Aaron Hicks off Jordan Romano in the ninth enabled them to avoid their sixth shutout.

The Orioles are 42-25 heading into Thursday afternoon’s series finale that also closes out the homestand. Toronto is 38-31 but only 7-16 in the division.

Rutschman lined a slurve up the middle at 105.1 mph. Fans exhaled or cheered. The Orioles wouldn’t be no-hit. And they wouldn't be blanked, but Adam Frazier struck out as the potential winning run in the ninth.

Frazier and Ramón Urías singled in the eighth for the only other hits off Berríos, who left with two outs. Gunnar Henderson grounded out, slamming his helmet after crossing first base and giving the safe sign.

"Two really good starters," said manager Brandon Hyde. "Two great starts from both guys. Kyle just made one bad pitch, that changeup in the middle part of the plate there to a really good hitter, and unfortunately that was the only one he gave up. And we had a tough time with Berríos. I thought he was absolutely excellent. We were making quick outs and he was filling up the strike zone with all his pitches and moving the ball in and out. Fastball had a ton of life. He was tough to hit."

There isn't much that an offense can do to break the rhythm of a starter like Berríos, who's 10-0 with a 2.66 ERA against the Orioles.

"Well, you can't step out anymore," Hyde said.

"Not somebody you really want to get to two strikes with anyway, and he was locating extremely well and made it tough on us."

Bradish retired nine of the first 10 batters, hitting Vladimir Guerrero Jr. leading off the second.

Bo Bichette lined a single into right field leading off the fourth. Matt Chapman and Whit Merrifield sandwiched fifth inning singles around a double play. Rutschman threw out Merrifield trying to steal.

The last five Blue Jays were retired by Bradish after Springer’s home run, enabling him to complete seven innings on 98 pitches. He allowed four hits, walked none and struck out one.

The strikeout was a regression from the 10 that Bradish compiled in Milwaukee, but he made huge strides against the Jays. He was 0-2 with a 6.95 ERA and 1.909 WHIP in the five starts last season, and 0-8 with a 7.86 ERA in 16 games against American League East teams in his young career.

"Berríos threw the ball really well," Bradish said. "It's a tough one, but got to keep it close. You saw in the eighth and ninth innings we put runners on. That's what we've been doing all year. Unfortunately, it didn't go our way tonight."

Bradish didn't have his slider working and went with the changeup to Springer.

"I always feel good with my changeup," he said. "It's my highest ground ball percentage. I just think in that situation, if my slider was better tonight, I go there, but I think throwing that in that situation, where I've been feeding him two-seams, kind of did him a favor. He got the head out, and just kind of threw it down the middle."

The Orioles managed only a few line drives against Berríos through four innings, which he completed in 33 pitches. Springer made a leaping catch at the right field warning track to rob Hays in the second. Rutschman and Josh Lester also produced hard contact but were retired by Berríos and first baseman Cavan Biggio, respectively.

O’Hearn was the first strikeout victim leading off the bottom of the fifth, but Hays walked to give the Orioles a baserunner. Catcher Alejandro Kirk threw out Hays trying to steal.

Berríos struck out the first two batters in the sixth, hit Urías, ran the count full to Henderson and got a called third strike. Henderson voiced his displeasure with the call from plate umpire Junior Valentine.

Seven pitchers have thrown no-hitters against the Orioles, most recently Seattle’s Hisashi Iwakuma on Aug. 12, 2015. Hideo Nomo owns the only one at Camden Yards on April 4, 2001 with the Red Sox.

Tigers left-hander Eduardo Rodríguez was perfect for 6 2/3 innings on April 23 until Ryan Mountcastle singled.

Mountcastle is on the injured list with vertigo. Someone else needed to shatter Berríos’ dream, and Rutschman stepped up.

The Orioles outscored opponents 37-15 during their winning streak but fell further behind after Bradish left.

Kevin Kiermaier reached on an infield single against Coulombe, stole second base, advanced on a balk and scored on Merrifield’s double. Mike Baumann replaced Coulombe with no outs after Biggio walked, and the Orioles executed a 6-4-2 double play on Springer’s ground ball, with Merrifield breaking late for the plate. But Bichette doubled into left-center field for a 3-0 lead.

Coulombe hadn't pitched in eight days, much of his absence due to an illness.

"Started off with the two-strike Kiermaier push bunt, so that led to the stolen base and bad things after that," Hyde said. "Nice to see him get back out there. Danny's been incredible for us. Maybe a little rusty after not pitching for a week."

Reed Garrett made his Orioles debut in the ninth and stranded two runners.

Hicks extended his on-base streak to 12 games to begin his Orioles’ career.

"We definitely showed heart right there," Hicks said. "In the ninth inning, coming up with some clutch hits with two outs. And we were able to get one run, but we were still out there fighting. Especially since the pitcher tonight was tough. He was pinpointing his spots, and you're just going to have games like that.

"The fact that we just kept fighting means a lot."

* Cole Irvin, Kyle Gibson and Dean Kremer are starting against the Cubs this weekend at Wrigley Field.

* Mychal Givens started for Double-A Bowie today on his injury rehab assignment and allowed one run and two hits with one walk in 1 1/3 innings in Game 1 of a doubleheader. His next appearance is Friday at Triple-A Norfolk.

Billy Cook had two hits, including his sixth home run.

DL Hall worked three innings at Norfolk and allowed two runs and three hits with three walks and four strikeouts, his removal coming after 61 pitches (30 strikes). Daz Cameron hit his 10^th home run. Heston Kjerstad tripled, and Colton Cowser had two hits and an RBI through the fifth.

Dylan Beavers hit his fifth home run with High-A Aberdeen. Catcher Anthony Bemboom is with the IronBirds on an injury rehab assignment.