Baltimore Orioles rookie starting pitcher Brandon Young entered Friday with a 6.70 ERA and zero wins in 44 1/3 innings pitched to begin his major-league career. And on Friday night in Houston, he came very close to completing a perfect game, but he lost it on an unfortunate play that was ruled an infield single for the Houston Astros.
While he lost the perfect game and no-hitter, it was a performance that Young, his friends and family, Orioles fans, and the broadcast crew will never forget. MASN play-by-play announcer Kevin Brown did a terrific job of recognizing the magnitude of the effort and offered excellent commentary on why Young still came away a big winner on the night.
With two outs and a 2-2 count in the bottom of the eighth inning, Ramón Urías — who was traded by the Orioles to the Astros on July 31 — hit a slow groundball on the left side of the infield. Young chose to field the ball — third baseman Jordan Westburg might have had a play on it — and made a barehanded play before throwing with his momentum going the wrong way. The throw missed first baseman Coby Mayo and went down the right field line, allowing Urías to advance to second base. The perfect game would’ve been lost on the throwing error, regardless, but the infield single ruling also took away the perfect game.
“A little groundball, Young barehand,” Brown began.
Color commentator Ben McDonald yelled “Nooo!” before the play even finished, recognizing it was about to go poorly.
Brown continued, “Young throws it wide! Urías will dash to second! The perfect game snapped on a swinging bunt by the old Oriole, Ramón Urías! It’s up to the official scorer. I imagine, given the difficulty of that play, that will be an infield hit and an error. And it is indeed an infield hit, ending the perfect game bid from Brandon Young, the Lumberton, Texas kid, four outs shy of baseball immortality.”
“He had already made one extraordinary defensive play,” Brown added. “He couldn’t do it again. Mom and Dad, for the first time tonight, feel the pain of a baserunner. And Brandon felt it too.”
Brandon Young lost his perfect game and no-hitter with 2 outs in the bottom of the 8th inning on a swinging bunt.
Orioles play-by-play announcer Kevin Brown had really strong commentary to describe the performance from a 26-year-old rookie. ⚾️🎙️ #MLB pic.twitter.com/2DJhwv3dxT
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) August 16, 2025
“This is a cruel, cruel game,” Brown said. “And the baseball gods would not let immortality happen tonight because of a swinging bunt from one of the Orioles’ most underappreciated players for the last six years, Ramón Urías. You have to be brilliant, and you have to be lucky to throw a perfect game, to throw a no-hitter. Brandon Young has been brilliant. He has been a little lucky. But fortune did not smile on him on that groundball. He can still make it through eight shutout innings. Either way, this is the accomplishment of a baseball lifetime so far.”
“Today is 13 years to the day of Félix Hernández’s perfect game, which was the second-to-last one thrown in the big leagues,” Brown explained. “Domingo German of the Yankees did it two years ago. Brandon Young flirted with history.
“And now that that’s out of the way, we can go into full-on reflection of what an amazing night this has been. If (Taylor) Trammell hits the ball 800 feet here, who cares? This has been a night we’ll never forget from Brandon Young. None of us at home will ever forget it. And we know the Young family and the Young friends here will never forget it.”
Young went on to strike out Trammell to make it eight scoreless innings with just one hit and no walks allowed in a 7-0 Orioles win.
“Struck him out swinging,” Brown exclaimed. “Brandon Young, eight innings, almost perfect! But it has been a perfect night.”
About Matt Clapp
Matt is an editor/writer at The Comeback and Awful Announcing.
He can be reached by email at mclapp@thecomeback.com.