Gunnar Henderson homered, Kyle Bradish pitched eight strong innings and the Baltimore Orioles defeated the visiting Washington Nationals 1-0 on Tuesday night to reduce their magic number to two to clinch the American League East.
Baltimore (98-59) is on the verge of locking up the top seed in the AL playoffs, which includes a bye in the wild-card round and home-field advantage through the league championship series.
In his longest outing of the season, Bradish (12-7) allowed three hits and two walks while striking out four. He lowered his ERA to 2.86. Yennier Cano struck out the side in the ninth for his eighth save.
Washington starter Josiah Gray (8-13) nearly matched Bradish, allowing a run on five hits over six innings while striking out seven with two walks.
Keibert Ruiz and Luis Garcia each reached on a single and a walk for Washington (69-89).
Before the game, a moment of silence was held to mourn the passing of Oriole legend and MLB Hall of Famer Brooks Robinson, who died Tuesday at the age of 86.
With Baltimore leading 1-0, the first two Orioles reached in the eighth, but Anthony Santander grounded into a double play and Henderson was out attempting a straight steal of home.
The Orioles took a quick 1-0 lead when Henderson led off the bottom of the first with his 28th homer of the season, a shot to center.
Joey Meneses led off the Washington second with a single and Garcia walked, but Bradish retired the next three batters.
The Orioles got runners to second and third with two outs in the second, but Gray struck out Ramon Urias.
Garcia’s one-out single put runners on first and second in the fourth, but Bradish struck out Dominic Smith and Ildemaro Vargas.
Baltimore had another chance to expand their lead in the fifth. Adam Frazier led off with a walk and Urias singled. Gray responded, however, striking out Henderson and getting Adley Rutschman to ground into a double play.
–Field Level Media