Heading into the All Star break, the Philadelphia Phillies (57-53) were 11 games over .500, firmly in wild card positioning, and a game and a half back from Atlanta Braves for the division lead. After tonight’s 6-4 defeat at the hands of the Baltimore Orioles (54-56), they’ve gone 3-10 since the break, now eight games back from the Braves and on the outside looking in at the wild card.
Fresh off his call-up from AAA, Andrew Painter gave his team a chance to win by allowing just a two-run homer by Pete
Alonso across six innings.
The offense seemed to have done their part as well, with an RBI-single by Bryce Harper and RBI-ground out by Brandon Marsh in the first inning and solo homers by Trea Turner (16) and JT Realmuto (8) in the third and the sixth.
But the wheels came off in the bottom of the seventh as Orion Kerkering and Tim Mayza allowed the Orioles to bat around, with Kerkering surrendering a game-typing double to Christian Encarnacion-Strand and Mayza allowing a two-RBI triple by Gunnar Henderson, all runs charged to Kerkering.
Phillies’ hitters went down in order in the eighth and ninth against Yennier Cano and Tyler Wells.
Harper’s RBI single was their lone hit with runners in scoring position, as they finished 1-7. Trea Turner had half of the Phillies’ six hits.
Cristopher Sanchez will be tasked with applying the tourniquet tomorrow night against Shane Baz.
