PHILADELPHIA—Kyle Bradish had a string of five straight quality starts heading into the Orioles’ final game of a seven-game road trip, and that streak was broken.
Bradish allowed five runs, his most since April 25th, and the Orioles lost their second straight to the Philadelphia Phillies, 6-4, before an announced crowd of 40,235 at Citizens Bank Park on Wednesday night.
The Orioles and Phillies were tied at four heading into the seventh when Edmundo Sosa, starting at shortstop in place of the slumping Trea Turner, hit a two-out homer to right on an 0-2 pitch. Bradish had retired the previous nine batters.
Cionel Pérez replaced Bradish (6-6) and walked Kyle Schwarber, hit Nick Castellanos and gave up a single to center by Bryce Harper.
CONTINUE READING BELOW
The Orioles (62-40) were 4-3 on their road trip to Tampa Bay, where they won three of four, but lost two of three to the Phillies (55-47). They remain 1 ½ games ahead of Tampa Bay in the American League East since the Rays lost to Miami, 7-1.
“You go on the road and you [go 4-3] against two playoff teams, you have to feel good,” catcher James McCann said. “Playoff-type atmosphere, two really good teams going at it.”
Bradish gave up five runs on seven hits in 6 2/3 innings.
“It was definitely a letdown. Tough game to not be your best,” Bradish said. “Any series loss is tough, but that one you’re in every single game. I feel like that one is on me. We put up four runs and that should be enough to get a win.”
Seranthony Dominguez (2-2) relieved Phillies starter Ranger Suárez in the seventh. Craig Kimbrel threw a 1-2-3 eighth and Gregory Soto worked a perfect ninth for his second save.
Adley Rutschman hit a three-run home run to left field against Suárez in the third, putting the Orioles ahead, 3-0.
“We didn’t score a whole lot of runs this series to make it easy on our pitchers,” manager Brandon Hyde said. “In his ballpark, especially [against] offenses like this, it’s tough to try to score just a few runs and try to win a game. You’re relying heavily on your pitching staff.”
Philadelphia scored twice in the bottom of the third against Bradish on an RBI double by Jake Cave and a run-scoring single by Nick Castellanos.
“They’ve got some really good players in that lineup, up and down,” Bradish said. “It was frustrating. I thought I pitched pretty well except for a few pitches. Got a lot of weak contact on the ground, but they executed when I didn’t.”
The Phillies took a 4-3 lead in the fourth on a two-run double by Realmuto.
“Third inning, just lost command of the zone, left some balls over the plate with two strikes,” Bradish said. “Fourth inning started out with bloop shots, left a sinker down and in to J.T., and he handled it and that late homer, executed the pitch. Should have been a little higher with two strikes.”
Jordan Westburg doubled with two outs in the sixth, and Ramón Urías’ drive to left was caught by Cave, who leaped high and held on to it as he hit the wall and fell.
McCann doubled against Suárez, and after Jorge Mateo struck out against Dominguez, McCann moved to third on Ryan O’Hearn’s grounder to first and scored on Austin Hays’ single.
“The sour taste in your mouth of losing the last two games, it can change the way you feel about it, but at the end of the day, the team is playing good ball, heading into the offday [Thursday], and we’ll right back in the fire on Friday,” McCann said.
Notes: After a day off on Thursday, the Orioles will play three games against the New York Yankees at Camden Yards. Grayson Rodriguez (2-2, 6.91) will face Gerrit Cole (9-2, 2.78) on Friday night. Tyler Wells (7-6 3.65) will face Clarke Schmidt (6-6, 4.33) on Saturday night, and Dean Kremer (10-4, 4.59) will face Luis Severino (2-4, 6.46) on Sunday night. Saturday night’s game will begin at 7:15 and will be broadcast on FOX. Sunday night’s game will start at 7:10 and will be on ESPN. … Gates will open two hours before this weekend’s games.