The rain arrived in the second inning today and picked up in intensity by the third, dismal conditions that seemed to brighten the Orioles’ outlook.

The starting pitchers were forced out of the game by a delay lasting 1 hour and 49 minutes, which meant that the Orioles got into the Phillies’ bullpen much earlier than expected with Zack Wheeler’s removal after the second inning. They appeared to honor the trade deadline by winning that swap.

They’ll need to do much better with their personnel moves.

The Orioles slogged their way through a shortened 8-0 loss before an announced crowd of 31,403 at Camden Yards. They’ve dropped three of their last four series and are 54-58, a failed attempt at showing the front office that it should skip the seller mindset and only buy.

Current and forecast conditions caused the game to end after the top of the sixth inning, and the Orioles were shut out for the third time in five games.

“Yeah, extremely frustrating on a lot of different levels,” said manager Craig Albernaz.

Bryan De La Cruz hit a two-run homer off Kyle Bradish in the third, and the Phillies scored twice against Anthony Nunez after play resumed in the fourth. Bryce Harper homered off left-hander Josh Walker in the fifth as the sky darkened again.

It got worse.

The weather and the results.

The grounds crew applied a drying compound to the infield dirt and around home plate before umpires ordered the first stoppage at 2:28 p.m. The tarp was removed and put back in place, fans booed and the game didn’t resume until 4:17 p.m. It was halted again in the top of the sixth with the Phillies ahead 8-0.

The Orioles lost one of their top starters with Bradish also a victim of the storm. He retired the first seven batters, and  Colton Cowser ran through the drops to track down J.T. Realmuto’s 398-foot fly ball near the fence to end the second inning.

Justin Crawford doubled with one out in the third as Bradish worked under miserable conditions, and Cowser tried unsuccessfully to make a leaping catch of Bryan De La Cruz’s 400-foot shot to center. The homer was only the second allowed by Bradish in eight starts.   

“The Phillies had one of their guys going, Wheeler, and we had K.B.,” Albernaz said. “It would make for a really good game. It just stinks that they were both done after two innings for Wheeler and three innings for K.B.”
Trea Turner walked and Bradish picked him off. Kyle Schwarber also walked and moved up on a wild pitch, but Bryce Harper struck out on a 96.1 mph sinker at the top of the zone. It was the last of 53 pitches thrown by Bradish.

“It’s difficult pitching in that kind of weather,” Bradish said. “Unfortunately, curveball slipped out of the hand, left it up in the zone and he hit it for a homer. That was kind of the only pitch that I really thought that got away from me.

“I don’t think anybody really had an idea of when the rain was gonna stop and how long it was gonna stop for. So I stayed ready for about 45 minutes, but after that, shut it down.”

The last few days have been especially tough for Bradish, with the Orioles trading Dean Kremer to the Twins late Friday night.

“I mean, difficult part of the business,” he said. “He’s one of my best friends. We’ve played together ever since I’ve been in the big leagues, so it’s tough not having him around every day. But like I said, it’s part of the business. Hoping for the best for him. See him in about a week and a half.”

The Phillies loaded the bases against Nunez with no outs in the fourth, beginning with Alec Bohm’s ground ball that Jackson Holliday couldn’t field on his backhand side. Bryson Stott walked on four pitches to force in a run, and Justin Crawford’s grounder increased the lead to 4-0.

The game could have gotten away from the Orioles, but a popup and fly ball kept the deficit at four. Harper widened it with his 23rd homer, the ball traveling 419 feet to right-center.

Albert Suárez entered in the sixth and surrendered three runs while rain fell, the grounds crew lined up behind the tarp again and more fans filed out of the ballpark.

“The surface level, I think everyone saw it,” Albernaz said. “There was like a puddle look to it, and stuff. The grounds crew did a great job of trying to keep the batter’s box and pitcher’s mound playable, but you can only take so much rain. No one’s going to make an excuse. Both teams had to play through it. Phillies end up taking a W.”

“Definitely frustrating,” Cowser said. “Definitely know how important these are, and can’t really control the weather. Feels like KB looked really sharp there, conditions started coming in and that’s just how it goes sometimes and kind of got to move on from there.”

The Orioles are off Monday while the Phillies begin a home series against the Nationals. The teams weren’t on equal bullpen footing, but that supposed advantage also didn’t play out.

Now comes the wait. How many more trades will the Orioles make and how different will the team look on Tuesday?

“What we have in this clubhouse is more than capable of winning, regardless of what they do,” Bradish said. “But at the end of the day, it’s something you can’t control.”

“Like I said before, whatever Mike (Elias) and the front office do, I trust them,” Albernaz said. “It’s kind of a weird deadline already with everyone in it right now. Whatever happens, happens. You can’t really control everything in this game. That’s one of the things where us, the players and coaching staff, trust Mike and the front office.”

The loss pushed the Orioles 2 1/2 games out of the last Wild Card.

“You look at the landscape of the division, where everyone’s at in the AL, we’re not too far off,” Cowser said. “Ultimately, we’ve got to put our faith and trust into the front office at this time. You really can’t, as a player, try and navigate those things by yourself, as a player. Just because you’re not really in charge of running the organization, it’s just more so going out there and playing baseball and doing whatever you can to help the team win.

“I have a lot of belief in this clubhouse and know that we can win a lot of games. So kind of putting our faith in the front office, and whatever they decide to do, they decide to do.”

*Here are the listed probables for the series against the Angels at Camden Yards:

Tuesday: TBA vs. TBA
Wednesday: TBA vs. TBA
Thursday: TBA vs TBA

This is life at the trade deadline, but it’s also life for the Orioles after trading Dean Kremer to the Twins.

Kremer’s turn would have come Tuesday night. The off-day, following an earlier one on Thursday, allows the Orioles to skip that spot until a fifth starter is needed Saturday night in Texas. They also could give Trevor Rogers the ball on an extra day of rest if he isn’t traded.

Chris Bassitt made his second rehab start today with Triple-A Norfolk and allowed two earned runs and three total in 4 1/3 innings. He threw 67 pitches, 47 for strikes. Cade Povich is a strong possibility to be recalled if the Orioles want to plug in another pitcher, with his most recent start on Wednesday – though he allowed six runs and 10 hits in 6 1/3 innings against Worcester.