Orioles can't hold three-run lead and drop series in Philadelphia (updated)

PHILADELPHIA – Easy isn’t a road traveled by the Orioles. Whether at home or in a visiting ballpark. Their GPS won’t pick it up.

Kyle Bradish cruised through the first two innings tonight on six and eight pitches, and Adley Rutschman hit a three-run homer in the top of the third. A crooked number.

There’s rarely a straight line to the finish. The Orioles just bank of the right outcome, which didn’t happen tonight.

The lead was gone by the fourth, on J.T. Realmuto’s two-run double. Edmundo Sosa homered with two outs in the seventh after Austin Hays had tied the game in the top half of the inning.

A team addicted to comebacks ran out of them.

The trip ended with a 6-4 loss to the Phillies before an announced crowd of 40,235 at Citizens Bank Park. The Rays also lost, allowing the Orioles to keep their 1 ½-game lead in the division.

Back-to-back defeats left the Orioles at 62-40. They won three of four at Tropicana Field but faltered in the last two games against the Phillies after scoring first.

"We didn't score a whole lot of runs this series to make it easy on our pitching staff," said manager Brandon Hyde. "Got a big three-run homer. Didn't do much after that until we got an RBI single by Hays, and then we didn't do much after that.

"In this ballpark, especially with offenses like this, it's tough to just score a few runs and try to win a game."

Ramón Urías almost tied the game after Jordan Westburg’s two-out double in the sixth, but left fielder Jake Cave made a leaping catch and crashed into the fence, his face absorbing most of the impact. Westburg’s ball hit high off the right field fence. Two near misses.

James McCann led off the seventh with a double, the last batter for Ranger Suárez. Reliever Seranthony Domínguez retired the next two hitters, and Hays’ 107 mph ground ball reached left field.

Sosa drove a two-strike fastball to deep right, Bradish was removed, and Cionel Pérez allowed a run without retiring a batter.

"Executed the pitch," Bradish said. "Probably should have been a little higher for two strikes, but hat's off to him. He just put a good swing on it."

Kyle Schwarber walked, Pérez hit Nick Castellanos, and Bryce Harper singled for a 6-4 lead.

Bradish hadn’t surrendered more than three runs in 10 consecutive starts before tonight, posting a 2.25 ERA during that stretch. He retired nine in a row and had Sosa down 0-2.

"Kind of a big bugaboo for our pitching staff this year, executing 0-2," Hyde said. "Up and away, and Sosa put a pretty good swing on it."

Bradish allowed five runs and seven hits in 6 2/3 innings, and his ERA rose from 3.05 to 3.29.

"Was really good the first two innings, kind of lost command in the third and the fourth," Hyde said. "Was hoping he'd find it, and he did. The fifth and the sixth were great. Got two outs in the seventh and just leaves an 0-2 pitch in a bad spot."

"It was definitely a letdown," Bradish said. "Tough game to not do your best. Trying to win a series against a good team.

"They executed when I didn't."

Jorge Mateo and Ryan McKenna singled in the second inning, and Rutschman launched a full-count sinker to left field with two outs for his 200th career hit.

Rutschman is the 35th Orioles player to collect 200 or more hits in his first 210 games, doing it in the 13th fewest at-bats with 765.

Bradish gave back two of the runs in the bottom half on an RBI double by Cave and Castellanos’ two-strike, run-scoring single on a bouncer up the middle. Bradish also walked two batters and threw 26 pitches, getting a 6-3 double play to avoid further harm. Mateo raced to the bag and made the throw.

"Just lost command of the zone, left some balls over the plate with two strikes," Bradish said.

Alec Bohm and Bryson Stott singled to open the fourth and they scored on Realmuto’s double. Mateo cut down Realmuto at third base after fielding Brandon Marsh’s ground ball, and he turned a double play after Cave singled.

"I think the innings where we ran into trouble, we just fell behind hitters," McCann said. "You fall behind good hitters and throw it over the plate, they can make you pay, and that's what they did."

Mateo had one of his better games in the field, a night after failing to get the ball out of his glove on his first attempt. Realmuto reached on an infield hit and Bohm followed with his walk-off single.

The Phillies turned two double plays in the first two innings. Hays singled on the first pitch of the game and Rutschman grounded to Stott. Ryan Mountcastle led off the second with a walk and Urías bounced to Suarez with one out.

Mountcastle had two singles and two walks last night.

Plate umpire Dan Merzel’s strike zone drew the ire of both teams. Schwarber was called out on strikes in the third on a pitch that missed inside, and Mateo was burned in similar fashion leading off the fifth.

Hyde bolted from the dugout to get Mateo away from Merzel. He couldn’t afford to have his shortstop ejected with Gunnar Henderson unavailable due to lower-back discomfort.

The Orioles didn't lose Mateo.

The game was a different story.

"We've got to let this one go and enjoy the off-day tomorrow and get ready to play the Yankees," Hyde said.

"You go on the road, you (go 4-3) against two playoff teams, you have to feel good," McCann said. "Unfortunately, the sour taste in the mouth of losing the last two games, it can kind of change the way you feel about that, but at the end of the day, the team's playing good ball, we're in a good spot heading into the off-day tomorrow, and we'll be right back in the fire Friday."

* The Orioles are starting Grayson Rodriguez, Tyler Wells and Dean Kremer in the weekend series against the Yankees at Camden Yards. New York is starting Gerrit Cole, Clarke Schmidt and Luis Severino.

* Double-A Bowie’s Jackson Holliday had a single and double in his first two at-bats. Greg Cullen hit a two-run homer.

Triple-A Norfolk’s Garrett Stallings struck out seven batters in 4 1/3 innings but also allowed four runs.

Connor Norby had an RBI triple in the seventh inning and Heston Kjerstad had a run-scoring single.

High-A Aberdeen second baseman Max Wagner hit his 10^th home run in Game 1 of a doubleheader. Seven-foot Jared Beck allowed one earned run (two total) and one hit in four innings.

Wagner collected four hits in Game 2.

Single-A Delmarva catcher Brayan Hernández hit his fifth home run. First baseman Erison Placencia had three hits and an RBI.

Juan De Los Santos tossed four scoreless innings in relief.

Delmarva is retiring former player and manager Ryan Minor’s No. 44 on Aug. 4. It will be the first Shorebirds jersey retired in the history of the franchise.