Gunnar Henderson's first-inning homer sets the tone as the Orioles defeat the Angels, 4-1

ANAHEIM, Calif. – Entering tonight's game against the Angels, the Orioles had gone 16 consecutive games without scoring a first-inning run.

The Orioles entered tonight’s game against the Angels having gone 16 consecutive games without scoring a first-inning run.

That changed on a 1-0 count to Gunnar Henderson.

Kyle Hendricks, perhaps better known for his days with the Cubs, threw a changeup that clocked a bit high and inside. The pitch wasn’t bad, but it was hittable, and Henderson didn’t miss. Smashing the pitch 400 feet to right field, it was an early lead that quickly became a 4-1 victory for the O’s. And behind a stellar start from Tomoyuki Sugano, Baltimore got back in the win column.

“He’s got the art of pitching down,” manager Brandon Hyde said. “The way he changes speeds and moves the ball around, super unpredictable, keeps hitters off balance. And we played really good defense behind him tonight. When we needed it, Tomo stepped up for us.”

Thanks to Henderson, Sugano entered the bottom of the first frame with a lead, a luxury they haven’t had often in 2025. The MLB newcomer went 1-2-3, and the O’s were off and running.

“Yeah, just had good mindsets, good at-bats going into it,” Henderson said. “I felt like we strung together a lot of good at-bats today and a lot of potential for more runs.”

Things kept rolling for the offense in the second. Ryan O’Hearn and Tyler O’Neill drew walks to start the frame, and a first-pitch ambush single from Jackson Holliday plated O’Hearn and advanced O’Neill to third. Emmanuel Rivera kept the line moving to score another and it was quickly 3-0 Orioles. How about that for a change?

It provided plenty of cushion for Sugano. Since the fourth start of his big league career, the right-hander has been cruising. Entering tonight’s contest against the Angels, Sugano had allowed just seven total earned runs in his previous four outings, spanning 25 innings. His start in Anaheim showed much of the same, as the right-hander went 7 ⅓ innings, surrendering just one earned run and three baserunners.

"Especially when the team is struggling like this, if I can get a good outing like this, I’m personally happy about it," Sugano said through interpreter Yuto Sakurai. "If I can get the momentum going from today, yeah, I’m glad I’m able to do this kind of job."

The first Angels threat of the ballgame came with two outs in the bottom of the fifth inning, as Luis Rengifo doubled on a scorcher over the head of Cedric Mullins. But Sugano quickly shut things down, inducing a Jo Adell groundout to end the inning.

That groundout featured another smooth play from Rivera at the hot corner, and exemplified another theme of the night for Baltimore: great defense.

Rivera’s partner across the diamond, Ryan Mountcastle, flashed the leather with a few spectacular plays at first base. A scoop and a dive made the highlight reel, which almost rolls off the tongue as well as a bloop and a blast. Mountcastle entered play as one of the best defenders at the position in the game based on Statcast’s outs above average metric.

O’Hearn and O’Neill kicked off the sixth in very similar fashion to the second. This time, instead of drawing a pair of walks, they smacked a pair of singles to end Hendricks’ night. New arm Reid Detmers, a lefty, was tasked with working out of a jam, which he did. Holliday struck out after going down 0-2 with two bunt attempts, Laureano flew out and Rivera lined out.

In the bottom of the seventh, the Angels showed some brief signs of life.

Yoán Moncada roped a triple down the right field line and a Taylor Ward groundout sent him home. That cut the Orioles’ lead to 3-1, but it was the only damage that Sugano would surrender all night.

The bullpen made things more exciting than necessary. Yennier Cano entered the game and allowed the first two hitters he saw reach base, then struck out Zach Neto in a dramatic 13-pitch at-bat that included seven consecutive foul balls. He exited in favor of Keegan Akin, who retired Nolan Shanuel after falling behind 3-0 in the count. That put an end to that threat.

Henderson ripped a triple down the first-base line in the eighth to score Adley Rutschman in the top of the ninth, and Félix Bautista had an extra run of breathing room.

That was more than enough for The Mountain, who went 1-2-3 in a clean ninth inning.

Baltimore had gone without a complete team effort for a long stretch