Gunnar Henderson’s two-run triple with two outs in the seventh inning lifted the Baltimore Orioles past the visiting Philadelphia Phillies 6-4 in the opener of a three-game series Friday night.
Pete Alonso homered for the Orioles, who notched a four-run uprising in the seventh to produce their first back-to-back victories in nearly two weeks.
Anthony Nunez (3-2) picked up the win with two-thirds of an inning. Taylor Ward pitched the ninth for his fourth save.
Trea Turner and J.T. Realmuto homered for the Phillies, who’ve lost eight of their last nine games. Turner finished with three hits — half of Philadelphia’s total. Andrew Painter posted a rare strong effort as a Phillies starter, but it didn’t pay off.
Painter, appearing in his first big-league game since June 17, delivered a quality start. Over six innings, he held the Orioles to two runs on three hits with three walks and six strikeouts.
The Orioles tied the game on Christian Encarnacion-Strand’s two-run double with one out in the seventh against Orion Kerkering (6-1).
Baltimore starter Brandon Young went 5 2/3 innings, charged with four runs on five hits with two walks and five strikeouts. He had surrendered only two runs across 13 1/3 innings over his previous two starts.
The Phillies have lost Painter’s last six outings. He hasn’t won since his big-league debut March 31 vs. Washington.
The game’s first three batters reached base, with Turner’s leadoff infield single resulting in a run following a walk and Bryce Harper’s RBI single. Brandon Marsh’s groundout provided another run for a 2-0 edge.
It took only two batters for Baltimore to pull even. Dylan Beavers led off with a double and Alonso followed with his team-leading 23rd home run of the season.
Leading off the third, Turner belted a go-ahead home run, his 16th of 2026.
After Alonso’s single in the third, Painter retired the next 10 batters before issuing a walk to Taylor Ward in the sixth.
Realmuto’s first home run since July 8 was his eighth of the season as the Phillies regained a two-run advantage in the sixth.
–Field Level Media
