CHICAGO — On Monday night, as the White Sox and Orioles played at Rate Field, the only noise that could be heard at times was barks.

That’s right, barks. Not cheers.

That’s what happens when there are 517 dogs in attendance and the two teams on the field aren’t inspiring their owners. After all, it was a mid-September weeknight game for two teams just counting down the days until the season is over. With a 4-1 win over the White Sox to open the three-game set, the Orioles staved off postseason elimination for one more day. Reality will set in soon enough — it’s now just a matter of days before it becomes official.

But a win is still a win, and it’s worth highlighting when it comes off the efforts of players who are part of the Orioles’ 2026 plans.

That includes Kyle Bradish, who, after missing 14 months while recovering from Tommy John elbow reconstruction surgery, should be able to sneak in six total starts and set himself up for a normal offseason. On Monday, more than half of his outs came via the strikeout as he struck out nine batters in five innings, allowing just one run on four hits. He had 17 swings and misses, locating his fastball up in the zone to punch out batters.

Bradish did walk four, one below his career high, and his command wasn’t as sharp at times, but, aside from the first inning, the walks didn’t hurt anything aside from his pitch count.

“Well, that’s Kyle Bradish,” interim manager Tony Mansolino said. “That’s just kind of what he does. We know we’re getting that when he goes out there, and as he gets more starts under his belt, he’ll command the ball a little bit better and be ahead in the count a little bit more and put guys away a little bit quicker, and that pitch count will stay a little bit lower.”

The lone run against him came in the first inning, like it did in his previous start when he allowed just one run in seven innings. Bradish began his night by walking Mike Tauchman, who scored later in the inning on a Curtis Mead RBI single.

Bradish said his goal for his last few starts is to keep the command strong all night so he can get deeper into games.

“I feel good, feel healthy,” he said. “Obviously, still working through a lot of things but we’re battling through that and that’s part of coming off a long-term injury.”

Kade Strowd pitched one scoreless inning and Dietrich Enns rounded out the game with three scoreless to get the save. Enns has a 3.28 ERA since he was traded to the Orioles on July 31.

“Remembering the trade deadline day, it was a lot that day, losing so many of our guys, and then we got the call that we got Dietrich Enns, and I probably didn’t really get that excited at the time, but boy am I excited right now,” Mansolino said. “He’s really good, and I think he’s definitely kind of forcing his way onto this thing going forward. He’s been tough.”

Unlike their opponent, the Orioles were able to take advantage of walks. In the third, Samuel Basallo, after going down 0-2, held off on four straight balls to get to first. Jackson Holliday walked with two outs to move Basallo to scoring position, and Jeremiah Jackson drove him home to tie the game 1-1.

In the sixth, Coby Mayo walked and Basallo followed with a base hit. Then Colton Cowser drove them both in with a home run to give the Orioles a 4-1 lead. It was Cowser’s second homer in as many games and 15th of the season.

After finishing second in American League Rookie of the Year voting in 2024, Cowser has missed about half of the season with a left thumb fracture and later a concussion. He’s hitting just .202 and has struck out 34.6% of the time in the 82 games he has played and hit ninth on Monday, but any productivity he can give the Orioles in the last two weeks of the season could provide the spark he can carry over to 2026.

“I would say this year’s been a pretty adverse year for me and the team as well,” Cowser said. “Just starting out, going on the IL for two months, coming back, working through some injuries, some swing stuff, you know continuing the play through it. It’s been pretty tough to find a rhythm, I would say. But you know messing around and [it] feels like I’m either striking out or hitting a home run right now. I sure as heck would like to stop striking out, but I think this last week or so has been better, seen a lot of pitches.”

News and Notes

• Albert Suárez was placed on the 15-day injured list Monday with right elbow discomfort. He is in Baltimore getting an MRI done, and Mansolino said the Orioles will not know the severity until after they review the tests. No matter the results, Suárez’s season is over. He pitched in just five games, missing the majority of the season with a shoulder injury.
• Jordan Westburg is expected to be activated from the injured list Tuesday and should be in the lineup as the designated hitter for Game 2 against the White Sox, Mansolino said. Westburg has been out since Aug. 22 with a right ankle sprain.