Rookie right-hander Brandon Young lost his bid for a perfect game with two outs in the eighth inning yet secured his first career victory as the visiting Baltimore Orioles rode home runs from Coby Mayo and Dylan Carlson to a 7-0 win over the Houston Astros on Friday.
Young (1-6) needed only 74 pitches to retire the first 21 batters he faced in order. He had 10 groundball outs, seven flyouts and four strikeouts on his ledger heading into the eighth.
Young opened that frame with a strikeout of Christian Walker before Yainer Diaz hit a long fly ball to right-center field that Daniel Johnson caught despite colliding with center fielder Greg Allen.
Four outs shy of completing the first perfect game in club history, Young surrendered an infield single to Astros second baseman Ramon Urias, who was acquired from Baltimore at the trade deadline. Young fielded the squibbed grounder between the mound and third base but made a late throw that pulled Mayo off first base.
Urias took second on the throwing error but was stranded there when Young fanned Taylor Trammell.
Young allowed one hit and recorded six strikeouts while logging a career-high eight innings. Yaramil Hiraldo followed with a 1-2-3 ninth inning.
Astros left-hander Framber Valdez (11-6) allowed four runs (three earned) on nine hits and one walk with six strikeouts over 6 2/3 innings. He took his first loss at home since April 2 against the San Francisco Giants.
The Orioles broke through with two outs in the fourth inning when Mayo lined his fifth home run of the year into the left-field seats and broke a scoreless tie.
Baltimore scored twice an inning later after loading the bases with one out when Johnson and Jackson Holliday singled before Valdez walked Jordan Westburg. Gunnar Henderson followed with a sacrifice fly to left that scored both Johnson and Holliday, who came home when Jesus Sanchez unleashed an errant throw home.
Henderson chased Valdez with a two-out single in the seventh that scored Westburg and upped the lead to 4-0.
Carlson capped a three-run eighth inning with his fifth home run, a two-run shot off Astros reliever Shawn Dubin.
–Field Level Media
