Orioles minor league recap 9/25: Bowie gets swept in the Double-A Championship Series and Norfolk spins a shutout

Triple-A: Norfolk Tides 7, Charlotte Knights (White Sox) 0

The Tides had their way with the Knights last night, with two pitchers combining for a shutout. Kyle Bradish got the start for Norfolk and pitched five scoreless innings to earn his fifth win of the season. He gave up two hits, two walks, and five strikeouts, lowering his ERA to 4.41 in the process. Cody Sedlock pitched four scoreless innings in relief to earn the save, with three hits, one walk, and four strikeouts.

On offense, the Tides had eight hits and seven walks. Kyle Stowers (.317 AVG, .888 OPS) led the way with four hits, a run scored, and a RBI. Zach Jarrett was 1-for-5 with a solo home run, his 10th of the year, while Adley Rutschman (.310 AVG, .936 OPS) went 1-for-4 with a walk. Although Tyler Nevin and Rylan Bannon were held hitless, they registered two walks each.

Double-A: Akron RubberDucks (Guardians) 6, Bowie Baysox 5

Facing elimination in their best-of-five Championship Series, the Baysox lost a heartbreaker last night to Akron. Playing on the road at Canal Park, Bowie was ahead 5-0 at the start of the eighth inning before the Guardians came thundering back.

Drew Rom had a masterful start, spinning five shutout innings with seven strikeouts while scattering five hits. Bowie even got a handful of runs in the middle innings, but their bullpen was unable to hold a lead late in the game.

The Baysox loaded the bases with two outs in the fifth and scored two runs when Jordan Westburg reached on a fielding error. With runners on the corners in the sixth, Cody Roberts singled to drive in Bowie’s third run of the night. They added two more runs in the seventh on a two-run double by Zach Watson.

Baysox reliever Morgan McSweeney pitched the eighth for Bowie and gave up four runs, although just one of those was earned. Two throwing errors — one by second baseman Cadyn Grenier and one by right fielder Shayne Fontana — contributed to the three unearned runs. But then Diogenes Almengo allowed two runs in the bottom of the ninth. He surrendered a solo home run, three walks (two intentional), and the game-winning RBI single en route a blown save and a loss.

Box scores from last night’s games can be found here.

Saturday’s scheduled game

Norfolk at Charlotte, 5:05 PM. Starter: Dean Kremer (1-5, 5.37 ERA)