Sunday’s game at Camden Yards featured a 30th anniversary celebration of the night that Hall of Famer Eddie Murray hit his 500th career homerun and became the third MLB slugger to reach 3,000 hits and 500 homeruns. Unfortunately, the celebration did not transfer to the game as the Baltimore Orioles lost 3-1 to the Boston Red Sox (79-65).
Boston closer Aroldis Chapman pitched the ninth inning and despite allowing a one-out Pete Alonso (2 for 4) single, struck out Coby Mayo (1 for 4, 2B, R) and Christian Encarnacion-Strand (1 for 4, 2B, RBI), both swinging, to record his 33rd save of the season and the 400th of his career. Chapman is the ninth member of the 400 save club and sits 23 saves away form passing Hall of Famer Billy Wagner for 8th place on the all-time saves list.
The Orioles also reached a dubious milestone, although just for this season, as they recorded a season-high six game losing streak.
Mayo and Encarnacion-Strand hit back-to-back doubles with two outs in the first inning to account for the O’s lone run. Ten consecutive Orioles were then retired before recently called up from Norfolk Rece Hinds (1 for 3) doubled to lead off the fifth inning.
Baltimore’s only other hit was a sixth inning single by Alonso.
Kyle Bradish (7-13) made his 28th start of the season and was tagged with the loss for allowing 3 unearned runs in the second inning. Gunnar Henderson‘s 16th error of the season combined with another anemic offensive performance sealed Bradish’s fate.
Boston had a runner on second with two outs in the second inning when Henderson misplayed a groundball by Andruw Monasterio which allowed Caleb Durbin to advance to third and Monasterio to reach first. Two pitches later, Eli White drove an 87.7 mph Bradish sinker 384 ft. to left center field for a three-run homerun.
Bradish’s final line was 3 unearned runs allowed on 2 hits with 4 walks and 3 strike outs over 4.0 innings. Four relievers combined to limit the Red Sox to 2 hits and a walk over the final 5.0 innings.
The Orioles could not figure out Boston’ pitching as illustrated by their 17 total strikeouts. Boston starter Payton Tolle (9-6) dominated the Birds, limiting them to the one run on 4 hits while striking out 12 over 6.0 innings.
Once the loss was in the books, several Orioles players remained in the dugout staring out at the field in some sort of a state of confusion and disbelief. The time would have been better served in the clubhouse staring in the mirror to assess why they have failed to meet expectations.
2026 Record: 69-75
Next Game: Mon. 9/7 @ 1:35 pm vs. Cleveland Guardians
