Prior to Sunday’s game, Orioles interim manager Tony Mansolino contemplated a question that’s been circulating throughout the past month.

Is Kyle Bradish back to being the pitcher he was prior to his elbow injury?

It’s a fair question. After all, in his four starts since returning from Tommy John reconstructive elbow surgery, he’d pitched to a 2.45 ERA while striking out 30. His velocity has returned to close to the same levels it was before the injury, and the Orioles, entering Sunday’s game, were 3-1 with him on the mound.

So is he back to being the same pitcher who finished fourth in Cy Young voting in 2023?

Not quite, Mansolino said.

“There’s two more gears,” Mansolino said. “If there’s five gears, he’s probably still stuck in third. In some ways, he’s going to elevate his game immensely going into the offseason and into next year.”

Well, if this is only third gear, the Orioles have a lot to be hopeful about. Because on Sunday, in his fifth start, Bradish pitched six innings, holding the Yankees to one run while striking out nine. The Orioles still fell to the Yankees 7-1, with Ben Rice hitting a grand slam in the 10th inning.

For the first five innings, Bradish showed flashes of being in fourth gear.

In the first, Bradish utilized his curveball to strike out Aaron Judge swinging. In the second, after allowing a leadoff single, he needed just eight pitches to end the inning.

He wouldn’t allow another runner to reach until the sixth. But this was the time, as Mansolino said pregame, that Bradish started to fall off just slightly as his command faded.

Bradish walked Trent Grisham and hit Judge as the Yankees got two runners on base. After Bradish got Cody Bellinger to line out for the second out, Rice hit an RBI single to tie the game. Bradish got out of the inning without allowing any more damage, but that would be it for him for the day.

Bradish said Sunday was a step forward but that he wants to improve his command.

“I think there’s definitely still some things we’re ironing out, but it’s part of it,” Bradish said. “Got one more start left and take in the offseason and come in next season hopefully being back to who I am.”

This level of production, even if it’s not his best self yet, will make a major difference for an Orioles team that faltered early in the season partly due to the lack of quality starting pitching. Add on Tyler Wells and Trevor Rogers, and the Orioles have a foundation for their 2026 rotation in place.

The Orioles are 19-6 this season when Rogers, Wells or Bradish starts.

“That’s probably the best we’ve seen him so far, even better than that first outing coming off the IL,” Mansolino said of Bradish. “The ball was coming out hot, looked good. The fastball was good. The breaking stuff was sharp. Was really good against a really good lineup.”

But those three alone can only do so much if the offense doesn’t do its part. On Sunday, the Orioles scored their only run in the fifth, a solo home run from Samuel Basallo, and, after Rice’s RBI single in the sixth, the score remained tied 1-1 until the 10th.

Mansolino brought left-hander Keegan Akin in to face left-handed hitters Rice and Bellinger. The Orioles, after selling off all of their late-inning relievers and losing Félix Bautista to season-ending shoulder surgery, don’t have any better options, and the Yankees immediately made the Orioles pay for it. Bellinger hit a single before Rice’s grand slam made it 5-1.

The Orioles added two more runs in the 10th, turning what was a winnable game for nine innings into a disappointing loss.

“You took Kade Strowd and put him in the highest-leverage situation of his career in the ninth inning right there in a tie game, and he gets through it,” Mansolino said. “And then we asked him to go back out and face Aaron Judge in that spot. I don’t think you take a young kid and throw him to the wolves in that situation. And then, on top of that, our guy Keegan Akin, who has closed games for us for a while, he’s left-handed. I know Bellinger handles lefties well, but it’s also our guy in that spot. You don’t want to overexpose Kade. It’s not the right thing to do.”

This article has been updated.