The Phillies were hoping for a sweeter day at Citizens Bank Park in their last game before embarking on a 10-game road trip.
They fell short of sweeping the Orioles, dropping the series finale by a 5-1 score Wednesday afternoon.
The Phils went 1 for 10 with runners in scoring position.
“We had chances, we just didn’t come through,” Phillies manager Rob Thomson said.
Ranger Suarez threw 6 and 1/3 innings, conceding five runs and nine hits. He had three strikeouts and zero walks.
Orioles starter Trevor Rogers limited the Phillies to one run over his six innings. Rogers allowed eight hits, struck out six and walked two.
The Phillies threatened to take the lead in the bottom of the third inning. Trea Turner picked up a one-out triple after Dylan Carlson made a fruitless dive in center field. An inside-the-park home run wasn’t out of the question, but third base coach Dusty Wathan held Turner.
Turner entered the day 4 for his last 38. He hadn’t recorded a hit greater than a double since July 25.
The Phils failed to push him home. With the Orioles’ infield in, Kyle Schwarber struck out. Jackson Holliday then handled Bryce Harper’s grounder to second with a nice backhand play.
Suarez’s outing soured in the fourth inning. Following Gunnar Henderson’s opposite-field single and Adley Rutschman’s infield hit, Jeremiah Jackson ripped a double down the left-field line.
Coby Mayo smashed the next pitch, a heart-of-the-plate changeup, for a three-run homer to put the O’s up 4-0.
The Phils cut their deficit in the fifth inning. Weston Wilson walked, Rafael Marchan singled and Turner flared an RBI base hit to center.
Rogers wriggled out of the inning, largely thanks to effective changeups at the bottom of the zone. The lefty struck out Schwarber again and got ground balls from Harper and Nick Castellanos.
He navigated through the sixth, too. Harrison Bader flew out to the left-field warning track, Otto Kemp and Wilson singled, and Edmundo Sosa worked an 11-pitch at-bat. The Phils still came up empty. Marchan ended the inning by grounding out to shortstop on Rogers’ 104th pitch.
Suarez started the seventh but couldn’t finish it. Holliday gave Baltimore a bit more breathing room with a one-out RBI knock.
Turner kicked off the bottom of the inning by cracking a leadoff double for his third hit of the afternoon. He was a home run shy of the cycle.
“I’ve been tinkering with things just to try to find something that feels good,” Turner said. “The frustrating part is, talking with the coaches, it feels like, ‘Oh, good swing, good swing, good swing.’ After a little while, you hate hearing that. You want to see results.
“I think the Detroit series and the first two games of this series, I hit some balls hard, just kind of right at people. … Try to separate that a little bit. But today I made a little adjustment. We’ll stick with that and see where it goes.”
The Schwarber-Harper-Castellanos trio remained quiet in the seventh. All three struck out.
The 65-49 Phils begin their trip Friday night against the Rangers. Cristopher Sanchez will start instead of Zack Wheeler, who’s been moved to Sunday because of shoulder soreness.
Patience with Painter
Thomson acknowledged pregame that top pitching prospect Andrew Painter is not guaranteed to join the big club late this season and seize a major role.
Painter had a subpar start Tuesday night for Triple-A Lehigh Valley, allowing five runs in four innings and walking four batters. His ERA rose to 4.88 in 15 Triple-A starts.
“It’s always about him pitching well and being healthy,” Thomson said. “Last night, his fastball command … lot of arm side, up arm side. Velocity was good. He’s got to be pitching well.”
Painter underwent Tommy John surgery in July of 2023. The Phillies don’t want to rush the 22-year-old up.
“Coming back from this injury takes a while; a lot of times it’s two years,” Thomson said. “Look at (Sandy) Alcantara, a number of guys. It’s usually the second year that it comes together. We just have to wait and see.”
Read the full article here