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Orioles rookie pitcher loses perfect game bid in brutal fashion with just four outs remaining
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Baltimore Orioles rookie pitcher Brandon Young lost his perfect-game bid in brutal fashion during the team’s 7-0 win over the Houston Astros on Friday.
Young, 26, was four outs away from etching himself into the history books when Astros second baseman Ramon Urias was up.
Young threw a changeup on the outside part of the plate in a 2-2 count. Urias reached out and tapped a groundball softly in between the pitcher’s mound and third base.
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Baltimore Orioles starting pitcher Brandon Young returns to the dugout after the eighth inning of a baseball game against the Houston Astros in Houston, Friday, Aug. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)
Young, who had to hurry because of Urias’ speed, picked the ball up with his bare hand, turned and fired an errant throw to first base, allowing Urias to reach. Urias was given a hit, and Young was charged with an error for allowing Urias to advance to second base on his wild throw.
“I thought I could make the play,” Young said postgame. “I got there in time. I think I had a little more time to maybe take a step and make a better throw. Obviously, rushed it, yanked it. . . . Definitely want it back.”
Young settled down and struck out Astros’ center fielder Taylor Trammell to end the inning. The 26-year-old threw eight innings while allowing just the one hit to Urias, and he tied his career-high with six strikeouts.
Ramón Urías, #29 of the Houston Astros, singles to break up the perfect game bid of Brandon Young, #63 of the Baltimore Orioles (not pictured), in the eighth inning at Daikin Park on August 15, 2025, in Houston, Texas. (Houston Astros/Getty Images)
“He was throwing all of his pitches for strikes, behind in counts, ahead in counts. Was able to mix locations well. Thought he just executed his plan really well,” Orioles catcher Adley Rutschman said of Young’s performance.
Young said he knew the perfect game was on the line as the game went on.
“It’s really hard not to think about it,” Young said. “It’s kind of just trying to calm yourself down and think about just one pitch at a time. Kind of breathe, calm myself down a little bit, but I could tell what was happening.”
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Baltimore Orioles starting pitcher Brandon Young throws during the first inning of a baseball game against the Houston Astros in Houston, Friday, Aug. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)
Young is a native of Lumberton, Texas, which is less than 100 miles northeast of Houston, and said his parents and grandfather were among the family members in attendance at Daikin Park, where Young first started attending games when he was five years old.
The Orioles (56-66) will play the Astros (68-54) in the second game of their three-game series on Saturday at 7:10 p.m. ET.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Afghanistan’s captain Rashid Khan says his team have no “specific targets” despite producing groundbreaking performances in recent ICC global events, ahead of a T20 international tri-series starting Friday.
Rashid’s men face Pakistan in the opening game in Sharjah, with the United Arab Emirates the other side taking part in the event which serves as a warm-up for next month’s Asia Cup, also in the UAE.
Afghanistan reached the semi-finals of last year’s T20 World Cup in the United States and the Caribbean, and narrowly missed out on reaching the last four at the ODI Champions Trophy in Pakistan earlier in 2025.
Those performances followed an impressive showing at the 2023 one-day World Cup, when the Afghans produced statement wins over England, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
“We do not have specific targets, and we do not want to put extra pressure on our players,” Rashid said Thursday when asked if Afghanistan are targeting the Asia Cup title.
“Our target is to play the brand of cricket we have played over the years. For us, the main target is to put in 200% effort on the ground,” he added.
“I think we have been doing well in the ICC events and although we haven’t played T20I cricket over the last few months, the guys have been playing in T20 leagues around the world and that has helped.”
Afghanistan beat Pakistan 2-1 in a T20I series at the same venue in 2023.
The 16-man Afghan squad for the tri-series includes fast-rising mystery spinner AM Ghazanfar along with fellow spin bowlers Noor Ahmad, Mohammad Nabi, Mujeeb Ur Rahman and Rashid.
The Asia Cup gets under way on September 9, as teams ramp up their preparations for the 2026 T20 World Cup in India and Sri Lanka.
Contrary to Afghanistan, Pakistan’s fortunes are dipping after they crashed out of the last T20 World Cup in the group stage before failing to win a match at the Champions Trophy.
This year they lost a T20 series in Bangladesh 2-1 but overcame the West Indies by the same margin.
Under new captain Salman Agha, Pakistan are going through a transition with former skippers Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan out of the T20 squad.
“We are trying to build a team and this tri-series and then the Asia Cup will be a good opportunity to achieve that,” said Agha.
“We know both these events will be challenging but we are ready.”
All three teams in the tri-series will play each other twice, with the top two to face off in a final on September 7.
Besides Afghanistan, Pakistan and the UAE, the Asia Cup will also include defending champions India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Oman and Hong Kong.
Lionel Messi admitted to “playing with fear” as he returned from injury to score twice in Inter Miami’s 3-1 Leagues Cup semifinal win over Florida rivals Orlando City.
Messi converted a 77th-minute penalty at Chase Stadium and then added another goal in the 88th minute — after combining with Jordi Alba — as Miami came back from a goal down to clinch a place in the final.
“I wanted to be here,” Messi said after the game. “When I came back against [LA] Galaxy [on August 17] I felt some discomfort, I didn’t feel comfortable, but I wanted to play the game.
“It was really important to be here because it’s a difficult opponent, they’d beaten us in the two games we played against them this year. In the first half I was playing with a bit of fear, but after that I felt a bit [more] free.”
Orlando had beaten Miami 4-1 when the teams last met on Aug. 11, with Messi absent.
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The Argentina star has been struggling with a muscular injury in his right leg this month, and made a brief return against the Galaxy, before coming back into the team on Wednesday.
Miami will now play Seattle Sounders in the Leagues Cup final on Sunday, after they defeated LA Galaxy 2-0 in the other semifinal.
It will be Miami’s second appearance in the final in two years, after they won the tournament in 2023, while in 2024 they were eliminated in the round of 16.
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