By Theo DeRosa, Sports Talk Philly staff
FINAL: Brewers 13, Phillies 2
In the bottom of the fourth, Rhys Hoskins tracked a soft line drive that Brewers pitcher Brent Suter hit to left field. Hoskins homed in on the ball and ran in and to his right. Then he dropped it.
Hoskins' miscue was the only literal dropping of the ball by the Phillies in Friday's series opener in Milwaukee. But in metaphorical terms, there were plenty.
The first-place Brewers squared up ball after ball while Phillies fielders routinely failed to make a play. Milwaukee chased Jake Arrieta by the fourth with eight runs, only half of which were earned.
The Phils committed four errors on the night and scored just two runs of their own. A position player pitched the bottom of the eighth. Milwaukee coasted to an easy win, their third victory against the Phils in four 2018 contests. None of the Brewers' wins against Philadelphia have been close.
WP: Brent Suter (3-4, 4.30 ERA) ❖ LP: Jake Arrieta (5-5, 3.33 ERA)
Hub: Game Summary ❖ Starting Pitchers ❖ At the Plate ❖ Bullpen ❖ What's Next
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | |
| PHI | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 8 | 4 |
| ATL | 0 | 5 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 | X | 13 | 13 | 0 |
Arrieta was off from the start on Friday. He narrowly avoided a run in the bottom of the first, stranding two Brewers, but couldn't dance away in the second. Milwaukee loaded the bases and Arrieta plunked Suter on the foot for a run. Lorenzo Cain hit a sharp grounder to shortstop that Scott Kingery couldn't glove, scoring two more. A sacrifice fly and a wild pitch gave the Brewers a five-run second inning.
Hoskins' error in the fourth put Suter on second; Cain quickly doubled him in and Christian Yelich made it 8-0 with a home run. One groundout later, Arrieta was done for the night with the latest of a growing streak of poor starts.
Suter chased in another run in the fifth off Mark Leiter Jr., following Hernán Pérez's solo shot in the inning.
The Phils' only run off Suter — who drove in more runs than he gave up Friday — came on César Hernández's RBI double in the sixth. Odúbel Herrera cracked a ninth-inning solo shot off Boone Logan.
Jesmuel Valentín took on Pedro Florimón's position-player mop-up role on the mound, given the eighth inning. Valentín gave up three runs on two walks and two extra-base hits, including a Jesús Aguilar home run.
Zach Eflin has been the Phillies' most consistent starter during a rough June. He'll face righty Júnior Guerra on the mound at 4:10 p.m. Saturday.
| IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | HR | ERA | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jake Arrieta | 3.1 | 7 | 8 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 3.33 |
| Brent Suter | 7.0 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 4.30 |
Phillies
- César Hernández: 3-3, 2B, RBI, .265 AVG
- Odúbel Herrera: 2-4, R, HR, RBI, .289 AVG
- Scott Kingery: 2-4, .219 AVG
Brewers
- Hernán Pérez: 3-5, 2 R, HR, RBI, .260 AVG
- Brent Suter: 1-2, 2 R, 2 RBI, .222 AVG
- Christian Yelich: 1-4, 2 R, HR, 2 RBI, .301 AVG
Bullpen
Phillies
- Mark Leiter Jr. (4th): 1.2 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 3 SO, 1 HR, 4.50 ERA
- Víctor Arano (6th): 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 SO, 0 HR, 2.01 ERA
- Edubray Ramos (7th): 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 SO, 0 HR, 0.72 ERA
- Jesmuel Valentín (8th): 1.0 IP, 2 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 1 SO, 1 HR, 27.00 ERA
Brewers
- Dan Jennings (8th): 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 0 SO, 0 HR, 3.27 ERA
- Boone Logan (9th): 1.0 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 3 SO, 1 HR, 5.23 ERA
What's Next
- Saturday, June 16, 2018: at Milwaukee Brewers, 4:10 p.m.
- Miller Park
- RHP Zach Eflin (3-2, 3.63 ERA) vs. RHP Júnior Guerra (3-4, 2.71 ERA)
- TV: NBCSP; Radio: SportsRadio 94 WIP
