A day that opened under gray skies at Camden Yards ended with the Orioles staring at a weather-shortened 8-0 loss to the Phillies, a game that unraveled in the rain and never really recovered.
Kyle Bradish was sharp at the start, and for a couple of innings he looked like he might steer Baltimore through the mess. He needed just 10 pitches to get through the first, striking out Kyle Schwarber on a fastball and Bryce Harper on a dive bomb curveball. He followed that with another clean inning in the second, though the contact began to sound a little louder as the weather worsened.
By the third, the drizzle had turned into a downpour, and Bradish started to lose the feel that had carried him early. Bryson Stott opened the inning with a lineout to center, but Justin Crawford followed with a double into the left field corner after Bradish left a sinker over the plate. Then Bryan De La Cruz crushed a hanging curveball over the center field fence to put Philadelphia ahead 2-0.
Bradish still managed to finish the inning, picking off Trea Turner and striking out Harper again, but that was the end of his afternoon. The skies kept opening up, and the game went into a two-hour rain delay.
When play resumed, Baltimore had its best chance to get back into it. In the bottom of the third, Jake Rogers walked with one out and Dylan Beavers singled off lefty reliever Kyle Backhaus to put runners on.
After Backhaus threw a pitch behind Pete Alonso, Alonso tried to shoot a sinker the other way but flied out to Harper at first. Gunnar Henderson then lifted a 2-1 sweeper to right, only to see it land in De La Cruz’s glove.
The Orioles kept changing pitchers, but the problems stayed the same. Anthony Nunez entered in the fourth and immediately ran into trouble, giving up singles to Alec Bohm and Brandon Marsh before walking Realmuto to load the bases. Another walk forced in a run, and Crawford followed with an RBI groundout to make it 4-0.
Josh Walker handled the fifth, and Harper made him pay for one mistake. After Walker got ahead 1-2, he tried to repeat a slider, left it in the zone, and Harper sent a solo homer to right-center.
Albert Suárez took over in the sixth with the rain again coming down hard, and the Phillies finished the job. Realmuto singled, Stott walked, and Crawford singled to load the bases.
De La Cruz then picked up his third RBI with a sacrifice fly to center. Turner followed with an infield single, moving Crawford to third, and Schwarber added another sac fly to left to push the lead to 8-0.
Suárez got Bohm to ground out, and that ended the inning.
The tarp came out before the bottom of the sixth, and MLB called the game half an hour later. Because of Cleveland’s win Sunday, the Orioles fell to 2.5 games behind the Guardians for the final Wild Card spot.
The Mariners, Rangers and Twins all remain ahead of Baltimore entering Monday’s trade deadline, with only Texas scheduled to play tomorrow. That leaves Mike Elias and the front office with less than 24 hours to decide whether the Orioles will be buyers or sellers.
In Other News...
Orioles Fans May Hate What Adley Rutschman News Says About This Front Office
The Orioles rebuilding project has always been judged through the lens of patience, but any conversation about progress in Baltimore is going to feel different when it involves Adley Rutschman. The franchise centerpiece has been at the heart of everything the club has tried to build under general manager Mike Elias, which is why the latest news naturally lands as a referendum on the front office as much as on the player himself.
There is still a procedural step left before anything becomes official, and that is the part keeping this story from being complete. Even so, the mere fact that Rutschmans name is now tied to a move of this magnitude will force Orioles fans to reckon with how aggressively the organization wants to keep reshaping the roster, and whether the people making those calls can be trusted with the next phase of the rebuild. [Read more 🡒]
Orioles Face One Deadline Decision That Could Define Their Rotation
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One possibility being discussed would address a clear need by adding a controllable left-handed starter, the kind of arm that could stabilize the staff beyond this season. It is the sort of deal that would require real prospect capital, and the Orioles have to decide how far they want to go to strengthen the rotation without thinning out the next wave of talent. For a club trying to thread that needle, this is the kind of decision that can shape not just the deadline, but the shape of the pitching staff for some time to come. [Read more 🡒]
Orioles Just Helped A Wild Card Rival And Fans Know It
A late-summer trade sent veteran outfielder Taylor Ward from Baltimore to Seattle, a move that immediately drew attention because the Mariners are pushing to stay in the playoff race. Ward, on a one-year deal, gives Seattle another right-handed bat as it tries to shore up an offense that has been looking for a lift.
For the Orioles, the deal is a tougher sell to the fan base because they are still sitting near the wild-card picture themselves and moved a useful bat in the process. Baltimore did bring back three minor-league right-handers in Alex Hoppe, Harrison Kreiling and Brock Moore, though none of them were among Seattles top 30 prospects, which only adds to the feeling that this was a small return for a player who could have helped in the standings race. [Read more 🡒]