Baltimore Orioles pitcher Brandon Young’s bid for perfection on Friday was upended by a very imperfect swing.
Young was mowing down hitters through seven innings against the Houston Astros. He had a perfect game going into the eighth with just 74 pitches thrown to that point in front of a hushed crowd at Daikin Park in Houston, Texas.
The 6’6″ right-hander got the first out on a third strike swing-and-miss by Christian Walker. Astros catcher Yainer Diaz flew out two pitches later.
The Orioles rookie was four outs away from perfection on just 81 pitches when former Orioles infielder Ramon Urias stepped up to the plate. Urias fell behind in the count 0-2. The count evened as Urias refused to swing at a couple of pitches well outside the strike zone.
Then Urias made contact on a pitch down and away that cruelly dribbled to no-man’s land between the mound and third base.
Brandon Young's perfect game bid ends with two outs in the 8th on an infield single. pic.twitter.com/s3s6Ttphok
— MLB (@MLB) August 16, 2025
Young made a desperation throw to try to keep his ledger unblemished, but ended up compounding his mistake with a throwing error, allowing Urias to scurry to second base. Young ended the inning and his outing by striking out Taylor Trammell seven pitches later.
It’s one thing to lose your perfect game to an All-Star batter who scorches a fastball to center field. It’s another when the hit that gets you looks almost like a swinging bunt. It must have hurt even more for Young knowing that the play was his to make. He literally held the fate of his perfection bid in his hands as he tried to gun down Urias.
The stellar outing was unexpected from Young, who entered the game with an ERA of 6.70 across his first 10 career starts.
Had Young just been a little more fortunate, he could have etched his name in the history books as the 25th MLB pitcher to throw a perfect game.
