Sep 21, 2021; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Philadelphia Phillies right fielder Bryce Harper (3) reacts with catcher Andrew Knapp (5) after scoring the game winning run against the Baltimore Orioles during the tenth inning at Citizens Bank Park. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports
PHILADELPHIA—The Orioles were one out from dealing the Philadelphia Phillies a second consecutive loss. They led by a run with two outs in the bottom of the 10th and the automatic runner, Ronald Torreyes, was on third.
Manager Brandon Hyde decided to intentionally walk Bryce Harper. He then had a session on the mound with his eighth pitcher of the game, César Valdez. But the strategy backfired when J.T. Realmuto hit a triple to right field that was just out of the reach of a lunging Anthony Santander. Torreyes scored the tying run and the Harper scored the winning run with a headfirst slide in the Phillies’ 3-2 win over the Orioles before an announced crowd of 18,955 at Citizens Bank Park on Tuesday night.
“We were a couple of pitches away,” Hyde said. “I didn’t want Harper to beat us there. Realmuto is an All-Star, superstar-type player. I didn’t want him to beat us, as well. The pitches were too close to the plate to Realmuto with a pinch-hitter on deck.”
Ian Kennedy (3-1) pitched two innings for the win.
Valdez (2-2) had his contract purchased from Triple-A Norfolk before the game. Surprisingly, the pitcher who was the Orioles’ closer in the early weeks of the season was in line for his ninth save and his first since May 10th.
Tyler Wells pitched a perfect ninth and was in line for the win after Austin Hays drilled a double down the left-field line to score automatic runner Kelvin Gutiérrez for a 2-1 lead in the top of the 10th.
“It’s a tough loss tonight, but I think all the pitchers did very, very well,” Wells said.
Hyde said that Valdez and Brooks Kriske, a newly acquired pitcher who has yet to pitch for the Orioles, were his only choices to work the 10th. Both bullpens did well; the Orioles got only seven hits against five Phillies pitchers.
“They pitched extremely well,” Hyde said. “Tough time mustering up enough offense.”.
The Orioles (48-103) hadn’t won a game in which they scored two or fewer runs until Monday night when John Means led them to a 2-0 victory. They were on the verge of winning two straight with just two runs against a team fighting for a playoff berth.
“It was challenging, a challenging night,” Hyde said.
Conner Greene got his first major league start and didn’t allow a run in the first inning and was pinch-hit for in the second by Ryan McKenna.
The Phillies (77-74) started Adonis Medina, who had thrown just six major league innings.
Medina nearly gave up Cedric Mullins’ 30th home run in the third. It was ruled foul on the field but replays showed that it might have grazed the foul pole. Mullins’ pursuit of being the first Oriole with 30 home runs and 30 stolen bases in a season continues.
“I just saw the replay from the JumboTron,” Hyde said. “Based on our video guys, they were hopeful that it maybe hit the back part of the pole, kind of how the ball was fading back fair, but we didn’t have a real good angle in our video room for that so we left it to New York to decide.”
Mullin doubled in his first at-bat. After the long foul, he beat out an infield single.
In the top of the fourth Medina hit Richie Martin with a pitch with two outs and walked Gutiérrez. Ramón Urías, who was a late scratch because of a nagging upper leg injury, singled to score Martin.
After 14 2/3 scoreless innings, the Phillies broke through in the sixth when Realmuto doubled against Thomas Eshelman, and Andrew McCutchen doubled off Dillon Tate.
In the bottom of the eighth, Harper doubled and went to third on a ground ball to second by Realmuto. He tried to score on Matt Vierling’s grounder to second but was thrown out at the plate.
Note: Keegan Akin (2-10, 6.93 ERA) will face Zack Wheeler (14-9, 2.83) on Wednesday night. … Heston Kjerstad, the Arkansas outfielder whom the Orioles choose with the second pick in the 2020 draft, posted a video Tuesday of him hitting with the caption: “Finally back swinging the bat again!” Kjerstad hasn’t been able to play for the Orioles because of myocarditis, inflammation of the heart. He has been working out in Sarasota.
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What did everyone expect with Eshelman & Valdez, none of the earlier pitchers could’ve thrown more than one inning? No other younger players than Valdez in the system to bring up?…wow, it’s like the brass is trying to lose on purpose…;)…go O’s…
Your absolutely right. Bringing up Eshelmann and Valdez in the last few days of the season two guys who won’t even be in the O’s system next year is pathetic.
Congrats on using the word "pathetic" for the 500th time here! Commemorative plaque is in the mail, please display in place of pride...
Congratulations on changing your name every other day. I guess you have nothing else to do
499 pathetics directed at Hmmm don’t count…go O’s…
!!!
Where’s Baumann even though he got beat up last time out wouldn’t you want to see him instead of Valdez in that situation
Baumann 11.42 ERA and 1.846 WHIP. Had a deceptively good first outing in which he was hit very hard, then gave up 6 ER in 3 IP and 5 ER in 2 IP in next two outings. He has been given 5 and 6 days between outings so far...
Guy trying to win ROY & you don’t start him, probably best player since AS break, like they realize we’ll have to pay him more like f he wins it, 1 at bat…wow…looks like Mikey has way more say than I thought…sad…go O’s…
Do you dream about evil front office personnel too? See them in shadows?
Mountcastle has a WAR ( wins above replacement) at 1.0. Randy Arozarena of Tampa has a WAR of 3.5 ( per Baseball Reference). Garcia of Texas is 3.4. Ramon Urias has a WAR of 1.9. Mountcastle might not even be the Orioles top rookie
What O’s rookie is even close to him?…go O’s…
Like someone said the other day WAR, what about ALL the other categories, Urias shouldn’t even be mentioned in the same conversation…wow…go O’s…
Also pretty sure Urias doesn’t qualify as a rookie, but it doesn’t matter…go O’s…
Mountcastle 1.6, Urias 1.7, Mancini 0.8 as of 9/22…another obscure baseball stat…go O’s…
Going into this season, Urias had 47 days of service time, 27 at bats. Mountcastle had 105 days of service time and 126 at bats. Urias had less experience than Mountcastle. I don’t think Urias is better than Mountcastle long term, but no way Mountcastle is going to win Rookie of the Year if his WAR is about the same as his utility man teammate, So Mountcastle sitting out a game in a NL park with no DH isn’t affecting his chances for ROY
I’ll respectfully disagree, WAR is not the sole factor in determining the award, look at the typical numbers & who he compiled them against (Al East)…especially since the AS break, instead play Trey (whom I really respect) who is injured & keep arguably your hottest player since the AS game out…makes no sense…go O’s…
The use of all these alphabet stats is what’s ruining the game. The ONLY stat that matters is W’s and L’s. It seems to me that what helps teams get more W’s has always been players with more HRs and RBIs and pitchers with lower ERAs. WAR is possibly the most overrated star there is. Wins Against Replacement, what does that even mean? Launch angle, exit velocity, what good are they when hitters are striking out more than ever? Give me baseball from the 60’s and 70’s. Young people today have no idea how good the game once was. But, I gotta say, these players today can sure do a great bat flip and HR trot. Of course, sometimes it’s not a HR and oh well, a nice long single is still good I guess.
Another of the tunnel of school attributes of Mountcastle as a player that is not a stat, he shows the other players how to carry themselves, as does Mullins…go O’s…
Two very well pitched games for the most part by the Orioles pitching staff to begin this series, very surprising to me. Hopefully Akin will have a good start tonight and the O's will put more than 2 runs on the board, though Wheeler has had three strong starts this September.
BHoff, I knew he couldn’t do it…;)…go O’s…
This is on Hyde why would you not put Realamuro on and force Giradi to have the pitcher hit or force Giraldi to pinch hit the back up catcher .
I still think the guy to fix this onfield mess is Buck Britton he has won at Bowie in the past with no talent and got his team in this year after having two of his three best players promoted to triple a . He seems to do a very good job of developing talent when he has talent to work with .
Totally agree, pinch hitter was batting.154…ouch…the tank continues….go O’s…
Can’t blame Valdez for that. He made a good pitch to Realmuto. But why did Hyde force Giardi to make a decision. The pitchers spot was on deck and the Phillies only had the backup catcher on the bench. Hyde mismanaged that an he should know better given he comes from the national league. That situational awareness or lack there of is why Hyde needs to go.
Couple of things. I respectfully disagree with bashing Eshelman. He was quite unhittable last night BUT what I do worry about is that the O's will again find an infatuation with him and put him in the rotstion. We all agree that that that won't work out well. Doesn't it seem that Santander's just missed a few game winning hits by only inches in RF? Is it bad luck,bad knee,bad alignment,all of the above? Yes Hyde should've walked Realmutto considering what/who was coming up next. Of course I'm sure he was concerned about the ol' base on balls. Whether you like Harper or not he does play with an NFL type intensity that is so opposite of the rest of the Phillies team. They actually seem depressed(minus Harper). Those wondering why Mountcastle sat--it's the NL where else does he play when Mancini needs AB's. Speaking of that--does Mancini need AB's? He seems burnt out,over-matched and should sit more to ride the season out.
Agree, said it earlier, Mancini should have sat, not a healthy Mountcastle…go O’s…
I saw some of the beginning of the 1st game with John Means pitching. Mountcastle struck out swinging after swinging at multiple pitches out of the strike zone in the first inning. In the field 2nd inning, he dropped a popup to him at first base and the next time up he ground into a double play. That's when I had enough and changed channels. 0 for four night, Pitched hit last night of-fer again, yeah red hot hitter.
I've tried to give Hyde the benefit of a doubt considering the talent he has to manage. However, I believe the O's would be best-served by bringing in someone else to manage. Last night, Hyde should have intentionally walked Realmuto to force Girardi's hand. Also, I believe Hyde should have argued with the umpires on the (non)homerun that Mullins hit. The ball sure looked like it hit the foul/fair pole, which is a homerun. Even though Hyde wouldn't have won the argument, he would have shown Mullins and the rest of the team that he has their backs. Also, by being tossed, Hyde might have lit a fire under his team.
Side note: Attendance: 21,440 in Philly Monday night and last night Attendance: 18,955. I saw a lot of Orioles fans at that game on Monday night! But not much support for a Phillies team fighting for a playoff spot. Suddenly 10,000 at an Orioles game for a team rebuilding doesn't seem so bad in comparison.
Attendance: 22,160 at Yank stadium last night as well!
Attendance: 10,119 at Tampa Bay for the Rays hosting the Blue Jays
Attendance: 4,068 at Oakland for the A's hosting the Mariners. Other teams fighting for a playoff spot Just food for thought!
Attendance: 17,086 last night for the Reds hosting the Pirates!!! Attendance booming!
Location. Location. Location
And the point is….go O’s….