Defense hurt the Phillies (3-5) again as they lost to the Brewers (6-2) tonight by a score of 9-4. This was the their third straight loss. Over those three, they have given up 10 unearned runs. Although Ryan Braun didn't hit a homer, he managed to do plenty of damage when it mattered.
The Game: The Brewers wasted no time in getting on the board in the first inning. With one out, Jean Segura singled and stole second during the next at-bat. Ryan Braun walked, then Aramis Ramirez singled to left, scoring Segura. 1-0 Brewers. Up next was Jonathan Lucroy and he hit a ball to shortstop, but a fielding error by Rollins let the ball sneak into left field. Ryan Braun scored on the play. 2-0 Brewers.
The Phillies answered in the bottom of the first. Ben Revere led off with a single but was erased on a Jimmy Rollins force out play at second. Carlos Ruiz rippped a double to left, moving Rollins over to third with just one out. With Ryan Howard at the plate, the umpire called a balk on Matt Garza, allowing Rollins to score. 2-1 Brewers. Ryan Howard walked after a fantastic 10-pitch at bat. Marlon Byrd hit a grounder to second, but Brewers second baseman Scooter Gennett overthrew the shortstop on an attempted forceout play. Carlos Ruiz came around to score on the mishap. Tie game. Still with just one out, there were runners on second and third. Domonic Brown got himself an RBI on a groundout, scoring Howard. 3-2 Phillies.
Scooter Gennett led off in the second for the Brewers and hit a soft line drive to left center. Ben Revere got a heck of a jump on the play and made a phenomenal catch, going face first into the grass. With one out, Carlos Gomez hit a double. Jean Segura hit another flare in Revere's direction, but he couldn't make the play as the ball hit off his glove. That scored Gomez from second to knot things up at 3-3. Roberto Hernandez avoided any more damage by striking out Ryan Braun to retire the side.
After getting the first two batters out relatively easily in the top of the fourth, Carlos Gomez took a Roberto Hernandez sinker over the wall in left field for a home run. 4-3 Brewers.
The Phillies managed to tie things back up in the bottom of the fifth. Carlos Ruiz hit his second double of the night. Ruiz advanced to third on a wild pitched and later scored on a Marlon Byrd RBI single. Heading into the sixth, Phillies and Brewers were tied 4-4.
With Antonio Bastardo on the hill in the eighth, the Brewers took advantage of another Phillies error. Mark Reynolds walked and then stole second to lead things off. Scooter Gennett bunted him over to third. With the infield in, Logan Schafer hit a grounder to first that was misplayed off the glove of Ryan Howard. Reynolds scored on the play to give Milwaukee a 5-4 lead. With two outs, Bastardo hit Jean Segura. It came back to bite him as Ryan Braun smacked a two-run triple in the next at-bat, giving Milwaukee a 7-4 lead. Up until that at-bat, Braun was 0-for-3 with three strikeouts and a walk.
In the ninth, the Brewers tacked on some more runs, this time off of Justin De Fratus, courtesy of a Mark Reynolds two-run homer.
Win: Tyler Thornburg (2-0, 1.50) Loss: Antonio Bastardo (0-1, 2.08)
Notable Offensive Statistics:
Carlos Ruiz: 2-5, 2 2B, 2 R
Ben Revere: 2-4, BB
Marlon Byrd: 1-4, 2 RBI
Ryan Howard: 0-3, 2 K's, BB
Impact: Roberto Hernandez threw a lot of pitches early, but was very effective with his sinker. He struck out nine batters. You would like to see him last longer, but I think he did his job of keeping the team in the ballgame. Jeff Manship & Jake Diekman both did well out of the bullpen. The normally reliable Antonio Bastardo faltered though, with a little help from Ryan Howard. After getting ahead 0-2 to the first batter he faced, he walked him. That was followed by Howard's error, a hit by pitch and then Ryan Braun's two-run triple. Walking the lead-off guy and hitting a batter doesn't go unnoticed in critical times. The Phillies now have nine errors through eight games, the most in the NL. Another fielding note, at first base, I've noticed Howard seems very hesitant to make a stretch to get the close outs.
The Phillies offense was powered byCarlos Ruiz, who had two doubles. Ben Revere also had a nice couple of hits out of the lead-off spot. It was good to see the Phils fight back in the first and again in the fifth. After that, they went down easily, 1-2-3, right after the Brewers took a 7-4 lead in the eighth.
Up Next: The Phillies look to avoid a sweep tomorrow when they send Cliff Lee (2-0, 6.00) to the hill. Milwaukee will counter with Marco Estrada (0-0, 1.59). First pitch is set for 7:05PM.
Brandon Apter is a Philliedelphia Managing Editor. Follow him on Twitter @ApterShock
