Henderson shines again as Brewers top Orioles 5-2

Box Score

Look, two wins in a row against the 2025 Baltimore Orioles — thus far one of the most disappointing baseball teams of the 21st century — isn’t going to save the season. But after the disastrous week the Brewers just suffered, they’ve now got three straight wins, and will go for a sweep tomorrow that would get them back to .500 on the season. The headline today goes to Logan Henderson, who made some franchise history (keep reading) with his third straight excellent start to begin his career, but the Brewers also got enough offense from the only three guys who have been doing it for them more or less all season to keep the Orioles at arm’s length.

Henderson had an impressive first inning. Jackson Holliday and Adley Rutschman both struck out, and Gunnar Henderson grounded out to second base, and in retiring the side in order, (Logan) Henderson had an amazing eight whiffs. In the bottom of the inning, William Contreras worked a two-out walk against Baltimore opener Keegan Akin, but that was all.

Henderson walked Ryan O’Hearn after a long battle with one out in the second, and he advanced to second on a slow Ryan Mountcastle groundout, but Cedric Mullins flew out to right, and the first Oriole threat of the game passed. Henderson was through two scoreless innings, though it had taken an inefficient 39 pitches for him to do it.

Akin, the opener, was done after striking out Christian Yelich to end the first inning, and he was replaced by Chayce McDermott, who came in for the long-relief outing. Rhys Hoskins went after McDermott’s first pitch and popped out to first, which was followed by a one-out walk from Isaac Collins. Sal Frelick, the next batter, hit one deep to the gap in right center, but it just stayed in the ballpark, and Ramón Laureano caught it with a little (unnecessary) jump into the wall. Frelick hit it hard, but it needed to be further down the line if it was going to be a homer. Caleb Durbin followed with a flyout to center, and there was no score after two.

Heston Kjerstad struck out to lead off the third, and Ramón Urías scalded a line drive but hit it straight at Durbin at third. Holliday went down with his second strikeout, and Henderson was through three good, scoreless innings.

Joey Ortiz started the Brewer half of the inning with an ugly strikeout, but Brice Turang flashed some surprising power and broke the scoreless tie when he took a McDermott fastball to the opposite field for a long home run (measured at 409 feet and 107 mph off the bat). McDermott then walked Jackson Chourio — harder than it sounds! — but Contreras flew out to right on a 3-0 pitch and Yelich grounded out (he smoked it at 110 mph but G. Henderson was in the right spot) to end the inning. Brewers 1, Orioles 0 after three.

G. Henderson beat out an infield single (after a review, he was initially called out) with one out in the fourth, but L. Henderson struck out Laureano and got O’Hearn to fly out to right for another zero.

The bottom of the inning started with a play that kind of summed up the Orioles’ season so far. Hoskins hit a pop-up behind second base that looked like a routine play, but it kept sailing on Holliday, and the right fielder Laureano called him off … only for his cleat to get caught in the turf, sending him tumbling to the ground, with the ball bouncing off his glove in the process. Hoskins was credited with a generous double. After Collins grounded out, Frelick was up, who, if you recall, nearly hit one out in his first at-bat. This time, there was no doubt: Frelick belted one down the right field line into the second deck for a two-run shot. Durbin almost made it back-to-back with a fly ball to the warning track in left, but Kjerstad made the catch. Ortiz drew a two-out walk, and Turang flew out to end the inning. But the Brewers had increased their lead to 3-0.

Mountcastle led off the fifth with a broken-bat single to left, and with two out,s Henderson walked Urías to put two Orioles on base for the first time in the game. Facing what was likely to be his last batter either way, Henderson got Holliday to hit a fly ball down the left field line, and Collins made a sliding catch (probably just in foul territory) to end the inning. Henderson finished five scoreless innings on 90 pitches with seven strikeouts, two hits, and two walks. His ERA after three starts sits at 1.69.

Chourio, who walked in his second at-bat of the game, broke an 0-for-25 slump with a single to left to lead off the bottom of the fifth, and Contreras followed with a walk. Yelich had another bad at-bat with a weak grounder to second, but it did effectively function as a sac bunt in front of Hoskins. Hoskins, though, struck out, and Collins grounded out to third, and the Brewers couldn’t capitalize on the nice start to the inning.

Tyler Alexander replaced Henderson in the sixth. He gave up a leadoff single to Rutschman but got Henderson to fly out for the first out. The next batter was Dylan Carlson, in for Laureano, who did end up leaving the game an inning after his awkward fall in the fourth. Alexander then struck out O’Hearn, and the leadoff baserunner didn’t advance.

Frelick continued his good game with a leadoff walk in the bottom of the sixth. Durbin bunted with one out — he was kind of trying to bunt for a hit, but settled for a sacrifice. With Frelick at second, Ortiz flew out to right, and the Orioles decided to replace McDermott, who threw 4 ²⁄₃ innings, with the fearsome Turang due up. The new pitcher was flamethrower Bryan Baker, and he struck Turang out, keeping the Brewers’ lead at three.

Alexander remained in the game in the seventh, and he got ahead of Mountcastle but gave up a base hit on a 1-2 count, and Mullins followed with a solid single to left field to put runners on first and second with nobody out. With Joel Payamps ready in the bullpen, Murphy left Alexander in for one more hitter — the lefty Kjerstad — and it was the right decision! Kjerstad bounced into a 6-3 double play, a beauty from Turang.

Payamps replaced Alexander after that, but things didn’t go as well. Urías blooped a cheap single off the end of the bat to score Mountcastle, but Holliday made much better contact and hit one high off the wall in left as Chourio gracelessly bounced off the wall in pursuit. That scored Urías and put Holliday, the tying run, on third base. Rutschman was the hitter, but Payamps got ahead of him 0-2 and induced a harmless fly out to center field to end the inning with the Brewers’ lead intact at 3-2.

With their lead now tenuous, the Brewers came out looking for a response. Unfortunately for Milwaukee, Chourio went after the first pitch and popped out, and Contreras and Yelich grounded out — it was the Brewers’ first three-up, three-down inning of the night.

Jared Koenig replaced Payamps in the eighth, and the broadcast noted it was his first time pitching three straight days in his career (though he threw just 11 pitches on Sunday and only three yesterday). Henderson grounded out weakly to start the inning (a close play at first, but an out), and Carlson then reached on a weak ground ball (a close play that wasn’t an out). Baltimore sent pinch-hitter Emmanuel Rivera to the plate in place of O’Hearn, but Koenig defied Rivera’s matchup advantage and struck him out. Koenig stayed in to face Mountcastle and got him to fly out to center, and the inning was over with no runs across.

Still looking for an insurance run, Hoskins provided. Leading off the bottom of the eighth against Baltimore closer Félix Bautista, Hoskins punched a 3-2 fastball out to right-center for his sixth home run of the season. Collins, up next, hit a 105-mph line drive right at Holliday for the first out. Bautista then walked Frelick, who promptly stole second. Bautista struck out Durbin for the second out, and looked to be out of the inning when Ortiz hit a ground ball to second, but Holliday threw it away with a rushed throw to first; it wasn’t an easy play, but it should have been made. Ortiz, though, was credited with a single, with Frelick scoring on the throwing error, and the Brewers had not one but two insurance runs.

Bautista was pulled after that in favor of Cionel Pérez. Turang hit a weak, deflected ground ball and was called safe on a very close play at first. Baltimore challenged, but the call stood. That gave Chourio a shot with two on and two out, and those two on advanced to second and third when Rutschman tried to throw behind Ortiz and instead threw it into center field. Chourio got a couple of really good pitches to hit but fouled them off, and he ultimately chopped one back to Pérez for the third out.

With a three-run lead now in place, the Brewers turned to Abner Uribe, who, like Koenig, was pitching for the third straight day. But Uribe, unlike Koenig, threw a lot of pitches yesterday (21 in a three-strikeout inning). He still had the velocity, though, as his first pitch came in at 99, and after a long battle, he got the first batter, Mullins, with a beautiful 100-mph comeback sinker. He also struck out the next batter, Kjerstad, when he couldn’t check his swing on a 1-2 slider. Baltimore’s last hope was Urías, but Uribe was feeling it by this point, and he got Urías to strike out on three pitches. It was a dominant outing from the big right-hander in his first save opportunity of the season.

This game was maybe closer than it needed to be, but in the end, the Brewers won fairly comfortably. Standout hitters for the Brewers were three guys who have been propping up the offense all season: Frelick, who went 1-for-2 with a two-run homer, two runs scored, two walks, and a stolen base; Hoskins, who was 2-for-4 with a double, a solo homer, and two runs scored; and Turang, who went 2-for-5 with a solo homer.

On the other side of the ball, Logan Henderson again looked great with his five scoreless innings, and as Curt Hogg noted above, his seven strikeouts put him in an exclusive club of just nine other pitchers who have struck out at least seven batters in the first three starts of their career. Henderson, the broadcast noted, is also the first Brewer to ever pick up wins in each of his first three starts. The bullpen, a bit shorthanded, got important innings from Alexander, Koenig, and Uribe, with the only real blemish coming from Payamps, whose run of recent good outings hit a speed bump tonight.

Milwaukee goes for the sweep tomorrow in a Wednesday matinee, a game that starts at 12:10 p.m. Chad Patrick will get that start for the Brewers, while 35-year-old rookie Tomoyuki Sugano will pitch for the Orioles.