Phillies fall short to Orioles in Citizens Bank Park return

By: Matt Rappa, managing editor

Final: Orioles 8, Phillies 7 ❖ Attendance: 18,376

PHILADELPHIA — Playing in their first game at home since last season's finale on Sunday, Oct. 4, right-hander Aaron Nola and the Philadelphia Phillies (15-11-3) fell short to the Baltimore Orioles (12-15-5), despite completing a near comeback from after an early, five-run deficit.

The Phillies will play their final exhibition game of the spring Saturday afternoon against their futures, before heading to Cincinnati, Ohio, for Opening Day against the Reds on Monday.

WP: Pedro Beato (1-0, 2.35 ERA) ❖ LP: Dalier Hinojosa (0-2, 6.23 ERA) ❖ SV: Ashur Tolliver (1)

Hub: Game Summary ❖ Starting Pitchers ❖ At the Plate ❖ Bullpen ❖ What's Next

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Game Summary

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
BAL	0	1	0	5	0	0	0	0	2	8	8	4
PHI	1	0	0	2	0	1	0	3	0	7	10	1

The Phillies and Orioles exchanged runs in the bottom of the first and the top of the second innings, respectively. Third baseman Maikel Franco put the Phillies on the board early with a ground out to short on a 3-2 count, scoring the runner from third. For the Orioles, left fielder Joey Rickard hit a RBI single to center field. This run could have been avoided, however, had first baseman Ryan Howard not committed a fielding error on a missed catch with two outs.

A near 40-minute rain delay—with the Phillies and Orioles tied at one after two-and-a-half innings—brought former Phillie Vance Worley and Nola's final exhibition outing of 2016 to an early end. Nola threw 53 pitches over three innings, striking out five batters, whereas Worley threw 34 pitches in two innings.

It got real bad, real fast here at Citizens Bank Park. They couldn't close press box windows fast enough. pic.twitter.com/v0mgqcRDTr

— Keith Groller (@KeithGroller) April 1, 2016

The Orioles struck fast in their first at-bat following the stoppage of play in the top of the fourth. Center fielder Xavier Avery and third baseman Steve Tolleson both hit two-run blasts against right-hander Ernesto Frieri, giving the Orioles a 5-1 lead.

With Frieri retiring just one Orioles batter with two hits, two walks and four runs allowed, southpaw Anthony Vasquez entered in relief, but too struggled. He retired the final two batters to get out of the frame, but surrendered a run on three hits in the process.

Down 6-1 in the bottom of the fourth, Franco picked up his second run-batted-in of the contest with his Major League Baseball-leading ninth spring home run, which landed far into the left field second deck. Two batters later in the sixth position, Howard went yard, his third home run of the spring.

The Phillies pulled within two runs of their opposition in the bottom of the sixth against right-hander Todd Redmond. With center fielder Odubel Herrera on second, non-roster invitee left fielder Cedric Hunter laced a RBI-double down the right field line.

Two innings later, Pete Mackanin's squad pulled ahead to take a 7-6 lead. With two runners in scoring position and one out, first baseman Emmanuel Burriss grounded out to the right-hand side, scoring Herrera from third. Pinch-hitting for non-roster invitee right-hander Andrew Bailey, Darin Ruf hit a two-run blast to right field to give the Phillies their second lead of the evening.

Right-hander Dalier Hinojosa took the mound for the ninth with his eyes set on a second save of the spring, however he allowed a game-tying solo home run to second baseman Garabez Rosa, his first of spring training. Later in the inning, with runners on the corners and two outs, Hinojosa threw a wild pitch to allow first baseman Ryan Flaherty to score the go-ahead run from third.

The Phillies threatened a comeback in the ninth with two runners in scoring position with just one out, but they ultimately failed to score.

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Starting Pitchers