A sweep of the Marlins, a .500 record, and a sub-par team in their path. All of these things bode well for the Phillies going into tonight's contest against the Milwaukee Brewers. Riding a 4-game winning streak and finally sitting at an even record, Tyler Cloyd and his team looked to move toward a higher place in the NL East. Opposing them was Milwaukee's Wily Peralta, who got the win in Philly last Saturday.
Michael Young was called on to be tonight's leadoff hitter, and began the game by reaching on an infield single. John Mayberry Jr. followed with an infield single of his own, and Jimmy Rollins blooped a single to right to fill the bags early for Ryan Howard. Howard was able to fly a ball to deep center and score Young, leaving two guys in scoring position for Domonic Brown. A wild pitch on a Brown strikeout would score Mayberry from third and put two more runners on, but a Delmon Young strikeout and Erik Kratz groundout would end the early threat.
Tyler Cloyd, who let up a hit and a walk in the first, walked with one out in the second. Mayberry doubles later in the inning to bring Cloyd home, and put the Phillies up 3-0 early in the game.
Moving ahead to the third, Brown singled and stole second base on Peralta. After Delmon Young walked, Brown then stole third and put runners on the corners for EK's fielder's choice. For the third straight inning, the Phillies scored at least a run, and now lead it 4-0. Freddy Galvis managed to walk, but was erased when Cloyd showed his warning track power.
In the top of the fifth, Delmon Young decided to add some padding to the Phillie lead, crushing a ball to the deepest part of the ballpark and moving the lead to 5-0.
It took until the bottom of the sixth for Tyler Cloyd to run into any real trouble on the mound. He walked Ryan Braun to begin the frame, then allowed Aramis Ramirez to single and put two runners on. Jonathan Lucroy barely popped one behind the plate for the first out, but Carlos Gomez flew one out to right to move Braun to third. Cloyd worked out of the jam by getting newly-acquired Juan Francisco to pop out to Michael Young.
Cloyd would last into the seventh inning, recording two outs on a double play and throwing a total of 108 pitches. Justin De Fratus would come in to complete the inning.
The first run of the game for the Brewers came in the bottom of the eighth. Mike Adams came in from the pen and allowed Braun to reach on a leadoff walk. After stealing second and making it to third on a Ramirez groundout, Braun scored on a Lucroy ground out. The ninth began with a 5-1 Phillies lead.
To close the game, Antonio Bastardo made his presence known. After allowing a leadoff single, Bastardo recorded a fielder's choice, a looking strikeout, and a sharp groundout to first to end it. Phillies win 5-1.
It was a rather boring game for the Phillies, but a win is a win any way you spin it. Plus, Tyler Cloyd pitched extremely well for nearly seven innings. Now that they reached the .500 point, the team finally surpassed the mark and now sit a game over at 31-30. A 5-game winning streak is always nice to have, especially when playing two more games against a below average ballclub. Tomorrow, dominant Cliff Lee will make possibly one of his last the start against Alfredo Figaro at 8:05.
