Clouds, Phillies rain on Orioles parade in 8-0, rain-shortened loss

What started as an overcast afternoon ended as a rain-soaked disaster, as the Orioles dropped their rubber match to the Phillies with an 8-0 loss in six innings.

Starter Kyle Bradish looked sharp to begin the game but showed clear adverse effects from the worsening weather. Bradish breezed through the Phillies in the 1st on 10 pitches, punctuating the frame by striking out Kyle Schwarber on a fastball and fanning Bryce Harper on a dive bomb curveball.

The 29-year-old right-hander worked another 1-2-3 inning in the 2nd, but it didn’t inspire the same levels of confidence. After a weak fly out by Alec Bohm to start the inning, Bradish gave up louder fly balls to Brandon Marsh and J.T. Realmuto, but both died in front of the outfield walls and found their way into Oriole gloves.

As a drizzle turned into a downpour in the 3rd, Bradish was the one most affected by the increasingly damp conditions at Camden Yards. Bryson Stott led off the inning with a lineout to center on a sinker that caught a bit too much of the outer half of the plate. The Orioles’ starter was clearly struggling to throw his best pitches as thick raindrops dotted the field, and it showed as he left another sinker over the plate to Justin Crawford, who doubled into the left field corner. It only got worse against No.9 hitter Bryan De La Cruz, as a Bradish curveball hung over the plate and the Phillies OF blasted it over the CF fence to give Philadelphia a 2-0 lead.

Bradish would get the final two outs of the inning by picking off Trea Turner and getting another strikeout of Harper. That’d be all we’d see from Bradish Sunday, as the skies continued to open up, sending the game into a two-hour rain delay.

Things went from bad to worse when the O’s finally returned from the rain delay. The much-delayed bottom of the 3rd saw Baltimore waste their best scoring of the afternoon. After a Jake Rogers one-out walk, Dylan Beavers singled off lefty reliever Kyle Backhaus to give Baltimore its first runner in scoring position. The runner moved up to second and third after Backhaus threw a pitch behind Pete Alonso, giving the Polar Bear a chance to tie the game with a hit.

Instead, Alonso tried to inside-out a sinker into right field, only for it to end up in Harper’s glove at first. Gunnar Henderson then sent a 2-1 sweeper for a ride to right, only for the fly ball to land safely in De La Cruz’s glove.

Anthony Nunez would take over for Bradish in the 4th, and despite the briefly drier conditions, Nunez also struggled with his control. He gave up a back-to-back singles to Bohm and Marsh before walking Realmuto to load the bases. A second consecutive walk forced across the Phillies’ third run, before Crawford poked a ball to second base for an RBI groundout.

Trailing 4-0, Josh Walker took over in the 5th and made one mistake to perennial All-Star Harper. After getting ahead 1-2, Walker tried to double up on his slider, but left the breaking ball over the plate and allowed Harper to launch a solo shot to right-center.

With the rain once again falling thick and fast, Albert Suárez took over in the 6th. The long reliever tried to battle the elements and loss, as the Phillies piled on three more runs. Realmuto led off the inning with a single and moved to second on a Bryson Stott walk. Crawford then singled to load the bases in front of De La Cruz, who picked up his third RBI with a sac fly to center.

All-Stars Turner and Schwarber would put the final nails in the Orioles’ coffin. Turner reached on an infield single to short to move Crawford to third before Schwarber lifted another sac fly to left to put Philly up 8-0. Suárez would get Bohm to ground out to finally end the inning, and it was the last baseball we’d see Sunday. The grounds crew would bring out the tarp before the bottom of the 6th started and MLB would call the game half an hour late.

The loss combined with Cleveland’s win Sunday dropped the Orioles to 2.5 games behind the Guardians for the final Wild Card spot. The Mariners, Rangers and Twins all sit ahead of the O’s heading into Monday’s trade deadline, with only Texas scheduled to play tomorrow. Mike Elias and the front office now have just under 24-hours to figure out if the Orioles will be buyers or sellers at the deadline.