Categories: 2023 Postgame Recaps

As offensive woes continue, Phillies drop series opener to Orioles

Bryce Harper DHed for the Phillies tonight. (Photo by Rich Graessle/Icon Sportswire)

Final Score: Orioles 3, Phillies 2

Coming off back-to-back series losses, the Philadelphia Phillies started a three-game series against one of the best teams in baseball tonight in the Baltimore Orioles.

One of the reasons Philadelphia has struggled over the last week has been their inconsistent offense. They averaged 3.33 runs per game over their last two series, which consisted of six games, and were shutout twice.

And even though there has been some talk about shuffling the club’s batting order in recent days, manager Rob Thomson kept the top-half of his order the same as its been for most of the year. He did, however, insert Josh Harrison, Jake Cave, Garrett Stubbs and Johan Rojas into the lineup this evening.

Those moves were made to give Alec Bohm, Bryce Harper, J.T. Realmuto and Brandon Marsh some rest. Harper, who played first base yesterday, was in tonight’s lineup as the designated hitter, though.

Facing Orioles starter Dean Kremer — he had a 4.80 ERA in 20 starts before tonight — seemed like a favorable matchup for the Phillies scuffling offense, but that was not the case.

Kremer didn’t get into much trouble as he worked his way through seven innings. The right-hander allowed just one run on a fifth-inning sacrifice fly by Kyle Schwarber, while giving up three hits and striking out three batters.

With the offense continuing to struggle, left-hander Cristopher Sánchez kept his team in the game. He finished his outing with career-highs in innings pitched (seven) and strikeouts (eight) while allowing just two runs — both of which came on solo home runs.

Jordan Westburg poked a pitch from Sánchez out to right field for his first Major League home run in the second inning. Then, four innings later, Ryan Mountcastle muscled a homer out to center field to give Baltimore a 2-1 lead:

With both starters out of the game entering the eighth, it turned into a battle of the bullpens from that point forward.

After a 1-2-3 top of the eighth by Jeff Hoffman, the Phillies rallied to tie the game in the bottom of the frame, but could’ve scored more than that.

Philadelphia had runners on first and second with no outs, but a line drive by Edmundo Sosa, who entered the game for an ejected Trea Turner, was caught by Orioles third baseman Ramón Urías and then thrown to second base to double up Rojas.

The Phillies were able to get runners on first and second again, but this time with two outs in the inning. And even though Nick Castellanos delivered a single to tie the game, Philadelphia’s two-out rally came to a quick end on the same play.

Harper, who was the runner on first, was aggressively waved home by third base coach Dusty Wathan in an attempt to give the Phillies the lead. But the two-time NL MVP was thrown out at the plate to end the inning and keep the game tied at two.

A half inning later, Baltimore regained the lead on a two-out double by Colton Cowser:

The Phillies put runners on first and second with two outs again in their half of the ninth, but were unable to capitalize after Rojas grounded out to end the game.

Altogether, the top five hitters in the Phillies lineup went a combined 3-for-16, while the bottom-four of Harrison, Cave, Stubbs and Rojas combined to go 3-for-14.

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