In duel of bullpens, Phillies walk off Orioles, 3-2, on J.T. Realmuto’s 10th-inning triple
PHILADELPHIA — In a duel of two of baseball’s worst bullpens, the better came away victorious.
With the Orioles and Philadelphia Phillies both planning to use their bullpens to cover every inning Tuesday at Citizens Bank Park, the home team evened the series with a 3-2 victory. J.T. Realmuto’s walk-off two-run triple followed an intentional walk of National League MVP frontrunner Bryce Harper, who represented the potential winning run.
The decisive hit came off César Valdez, who was added to the 40-man and major league rosters Tuesday a month after he was designated for assignment and outrighted to Triple-A Norfolk. He finished an out shy of what would’ve been his team-leading ninth save, with right fielder Anthony Santander’s lunging effort not enough to secure Realmuto’s line drive. It wasted Austin Hays’ go-ahead double in the inning’s top half.
The Orioles (48-103) entered play with the majors’ worst relief ERA at 5.70, with the Phillies’ bullpen a full run better but still sixth worst. Yet they carried a 1-1 tie into extra innings.
Conner Greene, Marcos Diplán and Thomas Eshelman kept the Phillies scoreless through five innings, giving Baltimore 14 straight shutout frames to open a series with a Philadelphia team contending in the National League East and wild card. But Realmuto’s double off Eshelman and Andrew McCutchen’s double off Dillon Tate evened the score in the sixth.
After Tate worked a scoreless seventh, Fernando Abad allowed a leadoff double to Harper, but following a productive groundout, the Orioles’ drawn-in infield was able to catch Harper trying to score on another groundball. Eric Hanhold got the final out of the eighth before Tyler Wells’ clean ninth sent the game to extras.
Short bench
With the Orioles placing outfielder DJ Stewart on the 60-day injured list and adding Valdez ahead of the bullpen game, manager Brandon Hyde had a four-man bench at his disposal. He burned through half of it quickly.
Ryan McKenna pinch-hit for Greene in the top of the second, grounding out with two on. Ramón Urías, who had been scratched from the Orioles’ lineup as he continues to nurse upper right leg/groin soreness, delivered a pinch-hit RBI single in the fourth to chase Phillies starter Adonis Medina in the fourth; Hyde then had right-hander Chris Ellis, who was on turn to start Tuesday’s game before a bout of arm fatigue, pinch-run for Urías.
With a runner on and two outs in the sixth, Ryan Mountcastle was on deck when Kelvin Gutiérrez reached on an error. But Hyde pulled him back and let Eshelman hit for himself, and he grounded out to end the threat.
