Phillies Lose. Rinse, Repeat.

The Phillies lost tonight. This is not a recording. The Baltimore Orioles bolted to a fast lead, then held on for a 6-4 victory at Citizens Bank Park, giving the O’s wins in the first 3 games of this 4-game home-and-home series.

Phils’ starter Kevin Correia produced yet another less-than-stellar outing from a member of their rotation. Correia (0-1) took the loss, allowing 2 earned runs but 6 total runs on 7 hits and a walk across 5 innings.

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The Orioles broke on top early when Chris Parmelee drove a first-pitch solo homer from Correia over the wall in right-center with two outs in the 1st inning. The blast gave Parmelee three homers in the last two games of the series, following his 2-homerun game last night.

The Phillies answered that in their half when Chase Utley singled to left, stole 2nd, advanced to 3rd on a throwing error by O’s catcher Matt Wieters on that steal, and then scored on a wild pitch by Baltimore starter Ubaldo Jimenez.

In the top of the 4th, a 4-spot by the visitors broke the game open. Phils shortstop Freddy Galvis let a ball roll under his glove, putting the O’s leadoff man on-base thanks to the error, and then Correia walked the next man to put two on base.

An RBI single off the bat of Wieters made it 2-1, and then J.J. Hardy followed with a single to load the bases. Then with two outs, David Lough lined a 2-run double to right, pushing the Orioles lead out to 4-1. When Jimenez followed with an RBI single to help himself, that lead moved to 5-1.

On the mound, Jimenez (5-3) took a 6-1 lead into the bottom of the 7th. It was then that he made his one big mistake of the night, allowing a 3-run homer to Galvis that pulled the Phillies suddenly back within 6-4. Jimenez allowed 8 hits and 3 earned, but walked no one, helping limit the damage.

The Phillies were unable to dent either Chaz Roe or Brian Matusz, and then Zach Britton nailed the game down in the 9th, recording his 18th Save for the Orioles.

To update all the bad numbers, the team now has a 9-game losing skid, their worst such streak in 16 seasons. They have lost 12 of their last 13 games, 19 of 22, and are 23 games below the .500 mark. Only Milwaukee, 2 games up on the Phils, is even remotely close to the club in the race for the #1 overall pick in the 2016 MLB Draft.

On Thursday afternoon at 1:05pm the teams will wrap up this series with Bud Norris going for the visitors, and Sean O’Sullivan taking the mound for the Phillies.