Orioles lose 2nd in row to Phillies
Bradish can’t hold lead built by Rutschman’s 3-run homer
PHILADELPHIA — When Adley Rutschman hit a three-run home run in the third inning to put the Orioles up 3-0, there wasn’t a starting pitcher on the team more capable of holding the lead than Kyle Bradish.
Over his previous 10 starts, Bradish had a 2.25 ERA, managing to hold opposing teams to fewer than three runs in each of his past seven outings and not allowing more than three since May 23.
But Bradish wasn’t himself Wednesday, struggling with his command and to generate swings and misses, as the Philadelphia Phillies came back to beat the visiting Orioles, 6-4, and hand the American League’s best team a series loss.
“Any series loss is tough, but that one we were in every single game,” said Bradish after the Orioles’ second straight defeat. “I feel like that one’s on me. We put up four runs, and that should be enough to get a win.”
The right-hander was far from bad, as he covered 6 innings, but he gave up five runs — his second most in a start this season — and surrendered both leads his offense gave him. After Rutschman’s right-on-left blast off Ranger Suárez, the Orioles’ only other run came on an RBI single from leadoff hitter Austin Hays in the seventh.
Bradish retired the first six batters he faced against the 2022 World Series runner-up, allowed a pair of runs in both the third and fourth, sat down nine straight and had his night end by surrendering a go-ahead solo homer in the seventh.
“It was a weird outing,” Bradish said. “He’s been really good his last 10 starts,” manager Brandon Hyde said. “Just had a rough couple innings there in the third and the fourth. Besides that, though, he had really good stuff. He’ll bounce back.”
He allowed the first three batters in both the third and fourth to reach base. To begin the third, he walked Brandon Marsh, got behind Jake Cave and gave up an RBI double and issued a free pass to No. 9 hitter Edmundo Sosa. He then hung an 0-2 slider to Nick Castellanos, whose ground ball found a hole for an RBI.
In the fourth, he allowed singles to Alec Bohm and Bryson Stott and a two-run double to J.T. Realmuto on a center-cut slider.
“The innings where he got in trouble, he fell behind hitters,” catcher James McCann said of Bradish. “When you fall behind good hitters, they can make you pay, and that’s what they did.”
With two outs in the seventh, Sosa hit a solo home run on an 0-2 pitch from Bradish for the winning run. The fastball was off the plate away but not high enough, allowing Sosa to barrel the pitch and power it over the right field wall at Citizens Bank Park in front of an announced crowd of 40,235.
“0-2 has kind of been a big bugaboo for our pitching staff this year, executing 0-2,” Hyde said.
Bradish and McCann both ascribed the troubles in 0-2 counts to the inability to induce as many whiffs as Bradish normally does. The 26-year-old had just three strikeouts and forced seven whiffs on 38 swings.
The Phillies added an insurance run they wouldn’t need off reliever Cionel Pérez later in the seventh on an RBI single from Bryce Harper. Pérez, who earned the save in Monday’s win, didn’t record an out after relieving Bradish, walking two before Harper’s hit.
Rutschman’s long ball, which scored Jorge Mateo and Ryan McKenna, who both reached on singles, was the 200th hit of his career. It also was the latest example of the significant improvement the second-year switch-hitter has made against left-handed pitchers. He hit just .174 with one home run in 115 plate appearances off lefties last season. After the 396-foot long ball, Rutschman was hitting .293 with four home runs in 121 plate appearances versus southpaws.