For six-and-a-half innings tonight, this game felt like a hopeless loss. Brandon Young had a little bad luck and made a few bad pitches, which put the Orioles in a hole. And Phillies starter Andrew Painter rebounded from his terrible rookie season so far to look like the top prospect he once was. With the Orioles down 4-2 going into the bottom of the seventh, the energy felt bad. Until it didn’t.
Painter exited after six innings, which was just what the Orioles needed. He was replaced by Orion Kerkering. Kerkering was greeted by a Jackson Holliday single, his first hit after hitting the ball hard earlier in the game. After a Coby Mayo strikeout, Colton Cowser worked a great walk. The tying run was on base, and Craig Albernaz went to Christian Encarnacion-Strand to bat in place of catcher Yohel Pozo.
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It was a total no-brainer to PH for Pozo, but Kerkering has been lights-out against righties this year so it was a tall order for Encarnacion-Strand. Kerkering had held righties to a .154 batting average this year and hadn’t allowed a hit to a righty in 17 games. The last righty to get a hit off Kerkering was Randul Grichuk back June 7th. Encarnacion-Strand changed that.
On a 2-2 pitch, Encarnacion-Strand launched a ball to the right-center gap. Holliday scored easily. It seemed like Cowser would stop at third, but third base coach Buck Britton furiously waved him home. Cowser slid in ahead of the tag! Tie game!
After Dylan Beavers struck out, Kerkering hit Pete Alonso to again put two runners on. The problem was that the next guy up was Gunnar Henderson. I hate thinking that, but that’s where we are. The Phillies changed pitchers, bringing in lefty Time Mayza to face him. But this time, Gunnar came through.
When Henderson swung through a 2-0 pitch that wasn’t near the strike zone, my heart sank. He didn’t miss the next pitch. He turned on an inside sinker and lined a ball to the left-center gap. Both runners scored and Henderson landed on third base with a triple. He emotionally pounded on the ground in celebration and the Orioles were up, 6-4.
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From there, Albernaz turned to Yennier Cano and Tyler Wells out of the bullpen. They did not waste any time. Cano, celebrating his new contract, retired the side in order. And Wells needed just 10 pitches for a 1-2-3 ninth to seal the win. What a win!
Before all the excitement of the seventh inning, the Orioles offense was unable to solve Andrew Painter. Painter had been the Phillies’ top prospect coming into the season, but was demoted to Triple-A after 14 games and a 7.06 ERA. He righted the ship some in the minors and tonight looked much more like the prospect people thought he was.
It got off to a pretty good start for the offense, actually. In the first, Dylan Beavers doubled and came in to score on Alonso’s 23rd home run of the year. The opposite-field shot made it into the first row of the Eutaw Street seats and tied the game at two. But after that, Painter put it together. He retired the next three batters after Alonso and had a 1-2-3 second. He worked around a Cowser walk in the third inning.
Beavers and Alonso tried to make something happen in the fourth with a walk and a single, but Henderson struck out, and neither Taylor Ward nor Leody Taveras could get on base. The Henderson strikeout kicked off a streak of 10 batters retired for Painter. He walked Ward with one out in the sixth, but Taveras hit into a double play.
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Finally, after six innings, Painter exited. That’s when the magic began.
As for Young, he wasn’t as successful tonight as he has been for most of this year. But he didn’t look too bad, honestly. He had a little bad luck and made a few bad pitches, and that was enough to do him in.
The very first batter of the game, Trea Turner hit a weak ground ball up the third base side. It died in front of Coby Mayo, who didn’t have a play. Turner hit it at all of 70.7 mph. Young followed that by walking Kyle Schwarber, then Bryce Harper hit a soft liner that fell into left field. Turner scored on the play.
Alec Bohm finally made the first out, a fly ball that moved Schwarber over to third base. One ground out to second later and the score was 2-0. JT Realmuto struck out, but it was a long inning for Young. The Phillies didn’t hit him hard, but he threw 24 pitches and left with the Orioles down by two.
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After the first inning, Young allowed just three more hits. That sounds good, except two of those hits were home runs. Trea Turner took him deep in the third inning, then JT Realmuto hit one with two outs in the sixth. That was Young’s final batter. In between the two home runs, he walked one, gave up a single, and retired 11. Pretty good! But not good enough. His final pitching line: 5.2 IP, 5 H, 4 R, 2 BB, 5 K.
After Young exited the game, the bullpen was outstanding. Josh Walker replaced him and finished the sixth inning. He started the seventh and got one out, then gave up a single. That was the last hit the Phillies got. Anthony Nunez came in and sandwiched two outs around a Schwarber walk. That was enough for him to get the win. Cano and Wells slammed the door after the Orioles took the lead and that was all she wrote.
Orioles win, 6-4! They are still two games below .500 but are just 1.5 games out of the last Wild Card spot. Some mediocre team is gonna be in the last spot when the season ends. Why not the Orioles?
Who was your Most Birdland Player for tonight? Tell us in the comments! Was it Christian Encarnacion-Strand for his game-tying double? Or maybe Gunnar Henderson, who had the game-winning RBI? Maybe a relief pitcher?
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