Urías breaks up perfect game ... against his former team

HOUSTON -- When Ramón Urías reached second base in the eighth inning Friday, former Orioles teammates Jackson Holliday and Gunnar Henderson couldn’t help but give him some grief.

“They said a couple of bad words,” Urías said. “They were a little bit pissed.”

Urías, who was traded from the Orioles to the Astros on July 31, broke up a perfect game bid by Baltimore rookie starter Brandon Young with two outs in the eighth inning by beating out an infield single and advancing to second base on Young’s errant throw. He was the only Astros baserunner in the 7-0 loss.

“You’re trying to break it,” Urías said. “You don’t want to go home knowing that you just [lost] a perfect game.”

Henderson, the Orioles shortstop, gave Urías a tap on the head while he stood at second base.

“I was joking,” Henderson said. “I mean, of course it was him that got the hit, but I love Ramón. He’s an awesome dude and I’m happy for him, but yeah, it was just all funny out there."

Said Orioles catcher Adley Rutschman: “Oh yeah, I mean, if there’s anyone -- I love Ramón to death, but I think we’re all thinking the same thing."

Young’s emotions were a little different, having retired the first 23 Astros hitters before getting Urías to pound a splitter into the ground. The ball had a 56-mph exit velocity. Young darted off the mound, fielded the two-hopper with his bare hand and made an off-balance throw wide of first base. The play was scored a hit and an error to allow Urías to get to second base.

“I’m just trying to compete over there, still trying to do my best,” Urías said. “It doesn’t matter the situation. I was just trying to break [up] that perfect game.”

Young struck out Taylor Trammell to end the eighth, and reliever Yaramil Hiraldo pitched a 1-2-3 ninth to polish off the one-hitter. It’s the first time the Astros were held to one hit since a 4-1 loss at Detroit on Aug. 25, 2023. Astros left-hander Framber Valdez, who started Friday, also started that game.

“We’re just trying to put quality at-bats together, trying to get something going,” Astros manager Joe Espada said. “Our offense at any minute can explode and put up a crooked number and that’s all we’re trying to do, but we just couldn’t get it done.”

There were 10 balls put in play with an exit velocity of 100 mph or harder in the game, and the Astros had only one of those. That came on a Yainer Diaz flyout in the eighth inning (100.6 mph). Houston’s average exit velocity against Young was 83.7 mph.

“We knew he throws strikes,” Espada said. “He really commanded both sides of the plate. We were off balance, we really couldn’t hit anything hard. We wanted to be aggressive because we know he’s a strike-thrower. We just couldn't get anything going offensively.”

Young, a rookie making his 11th career start, threw only 93 pitches to complete eight innings and was so efficient that Valdez didn’t have much time in-between his time on the mound to rest. Valdez gave up four runs (three earned) and nine hits in 6 2/3 innings.

“I would say 100 percent it affected me,” Valdez said. “I felt like I couldn't even sit down and I was already walking up to get out there. Sometimes that’s just the game of baseball. Sometimes a pitcher is going to have a better game; sometimes they’re going to throw a perfect game. … I felt like I couldn't get a drink of water in and I was already out there.”

Urías said it was a “crazy performance” by his former teammate.

“He was great on the mound,” he said. “He was mixing really well. That’s the best that I’ve seen him.”