Baltimore Orioles rookie Brandon Young was closing in on a perfect game against the Houston Astros but lost it in a brutal way.

Jackson Holliday hit a game-ending double, and the Baltimore Orioles snapped Seattle’s eight-game win streak with a 4-3 victory over the Mariners.

The Orioles and Astros will get their fill of one another over the next 10 days, playing seven games in that time span. The stretch begins with three games in Houston this weekend. After a hot June (19-7) seemed likely to catapult them towards another deep postseason run, the Astros have cooled off dramatically. They are 13-18 since July 7, and the Mariners are now hot on their heels in the AL West. Even worse, they got bad news out of their bullpen just recently. Closer Josh Hader (28 saves, 2.05 ERA) has hit the IL with a shoulder strain that is still being evaluated by medical professionals. For now, his prognosis is up in the air. Houston still has the big names on offense. José Altuve, now 35 years old, continues to put up good offensive numbers (126 wRC+, .817 OPS) despite lackluster peripheral numbers. Carlos Correa is back and looking good in his return to the Astros (175 wRC+ in 11 games). Jeremy Peña is having the best offensive season of his career, leading the team with a 142 wRC+. And our old friend Ramón Urías has acclimated well to Houston, boasting a .320/.370/.520 slash line across 27 plate appearances. That said, the Astros are a middling offense. They are 18th in MLB in runs scored, 12th in wRC+, 17th in home runs, and 13th in slugging percentage. That is where they are missing Yordan Alvarez, who has been out since early May with a hand fracture. He still has a while until he is back. Also on the shelf is center fielder Jake Meyers (calf strain) and third baseman Isaac Paredes (hamstring). If/when those two get back, it would be a boost to the lineup as well. While the Hader injury does leave big shoes to fill in the bullpen, Houston has several other late-inning options they can turn to. Lefty Bennett Sousa has saved four games this season, and his 2.44 FIP is the best on the team. Another southpaw, Steven Okert, is a veteran arm to watch. He is striking out 10.34 per nine and walking 1.93 per nine. He has been pretty lucky on fly balls this year, so some negative regression could be due. But their biggest weapon is probably Bryan Abreu. He leads the Houston bullpen in innings and K rate (13.25 K/9). He will walk you (4.09 BB/9), but you probably won’t hit him (.213 expected opponents batting average). Game 1: Friday, August 15th, 8:15 p.m., MASN 2/MASN+ RHP Brandon Young (0-6, 6.70 ERA) vs. LHP Framber Valdez (11-5, 2.97 ERA) The rookie Young has made 10 starts this year, and is still without a win. He struggled in his last time out against the Athletics (3 IP, 6 hits, 6 runs, 2 home runs, 2 walks, 2 strikeouts). But he had been better prior to that. With Kyle Bradish and Tyler Wells nearing a return to the bigs, Young could be running out of chances to prove he belongs in the rotation. It’s been a good contract year for Valdez, a free agent at season’s end. But August has gotten off to a rough start. He has allowed 10 runs (nine earned) across 11.2 innings to begin the month. Although his 3.97 FIP in that time indicates he has been a tad unlucky. The Orioles have traditionally done well against Valdez. He has a 4.19 ERA and .270 batting average against when facing the O’s with a sample size of six games (five starts). Game 2: Saturday, August 16th, 7:10 p.m., MASN 2/MASN+ LHP Cade Povich (2-6, 4.95 ERA) vs. RHP Jason Alexander (3-1, 5.02 ERA) The Orioles should be revamping their rotation this coming offseason. Bradish, if healthy, will be near the top of it. You probably give Dean Kremer a decent chance of sticking as the perfect backend arm as well. But just about every other position is up in the air. Povich seems like the player with the most to gain if he pitches well down the stretch. Having a lefty in your rotation, even an average one, is useful to force opposing teams to switch up their typical lineups. More starts like what he did against the Athletics (6 IP, 4 hits, 1 run, 3 walks, 5 strikeouts) would help him lock in a spot. Don’t let his season-long numbers fool you. Alexander was claimed off waivers from the Athletics on May 18. Since then, he has been great for the Astros. He has appeared in six games, five of which were starts. Overall he has a 2.56 ERA, 3.74 FIP, and 1.200 WHIP on his new team. That includes back-to-back starts in which he went six innings each and did not allow a run. Game 3: Sunday, August 17th, 2:10 p.m., MASN/MASN+ RHP Dean Kremer (8-9, 4.17 ERA) vs. RHP Cristian Javier (1-0, 3.60 ERA) Kremer has not won a game since July 11 (a span of five starts), but that is not because he has pitched poorly that whole time. That stretch includes two starts in which he went 7+ innings and allowed one run. His most recent outing against the Mariners (8 IP, 5 hits, 1 run, 1 walk, 6 strikeouts) was one of them. Kremer has become the workhose of Baltimore’s staff, often giving them six or more innings of quality pitching. This will only be Javier’s second start of the season. He had Tommy John surgery last May, and is just getting back into Houston’s rotation. He has never been a huge velocity guy, instead focused on avoiding hard contact and using lots of off-speed stuff. His first start was against Boston, where he allowed two runs over five innings. Over 22.2 career innings against the Orioles, Javier has only allowed five runs on 12 hits, eight walks, and 31 strikeouts.

BALTIMORE-What happened? On an unusual day that featured a sixth inning rain delay lasting two hours, 18 minutes, the Orioles took a series from the Seattle Mariners, a team that had won eight straight before Wednesday.