Andrew Painter bounces back in return, bullpen spoils in 6-4 loss

Andrew Painter’s return to the Philadelphia Phillies’ rotation seemed destined to be another clunker for the rookie after being blitzed by the first two batters he faced, giving up a leadoff double and then a two-run home run off the bat of Pete Alonso. 

Two batters, two runs. Just like that. 

However, the rookie buckled down, located his breaking pitches in the zone at a much higher clip than he did during his first stint in the bigs and ended up twirling six strong innings of work racking up six strikeouts to give the Phillies a much needed quality performance.  

Unfortunately for the Phillies, the bullpen struggles continued, blowing a late-inning lead in a 6-4 loss against the Baltimore Orioles Friday night at Camden Yards. 

Painter showed why the Phillies are remaining patient with him. 

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After the Alonso home run, the right-hander retired 17 of the next 21 batters he faced, including a stretch of 10 straight Orioles hitters. 

He lasted six innings, allowed just one hit after the rocky opening inning and struck out six. 

The offense gave Painter an early 2-0 lead with an RBI single from Bryce Harper and a run-scoring groundout from Brandon Marsh. In the third, Trea Turner swatted his 16th home run of the season, giving him more than he hit all of last season, putting Philadelphia back in front 3-2. 

In the sixth, J.T. Realmuto crushed a solo shot to double up the Phillies lead, 4-2. Afterwards, the offense went silent with 11 of the final 13 batters coming to the plate failing to reach base while mustering just one hit. 

The two-run lead would evaporate in the seventh as the Phillies bullpen once again struggled to protect a lead. 

Orion Kerkering allowed a one-out single and a walk before Christian Encarnacion-Strand ripped a line drive to the alley in left center field for a game-tying two-run double. Kerkering struck out Dylan Beavers, but hit Alonso with a pitch. 

Tim Mayza came in to try and end the threat, but served up a two-run triple to Gunnar Henderson making it a 6-4 deficit that the Phillies couldn’t overcome.

The bullpen has yielded 11 runs over the last four games, blowing three leads during that stretch.  

With the loss, the Phillies have dropped four in a row, eight of their last nine and are just 3-10 since the All-Star Break.