Phillies Chase-Watch, and Losing, Continue

As numerous trade rumors continued to swirl around Chase Utley, the Phillies 2nd baseman had yet another strong game, but the Phillies lost once again.

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After coming out of the MLB All-Star break on fire, winning 12 of their first 14 at the end of July, the Phils have cooled off noticeably. They have gone just 5-7 in their last dozen games, and the Saturday night defeat at Miller Park to the woeful Brew Crew was the Phillies 4th loss in 5 games.

Utley went 2-4 with a walk, smacking his 5th homer. Meanwhile the trade rumors seemed to begin to focus on the Los Angeles Angels and Chicago Cubs, with the Giants, Astros, Yankees, and Dodgers interested, but quiet.

On the field, the Phils actually broke out to an early 2-0 lead thanks to some old stalwarts. Ryan Howard had an RBI single in the top of the 1st, and then Utley hit his solo home run in the top of the 3rd. Meanwhile, Jerome Williams began the night looking extremely effective again.

Williams went 6 innings, allowing just 5 hits and walking no one. The Brewers finally broke through on him to tie it in the home 5th when Khris Davis led off with a double, and scored on a Scooter Gennett single to make it a 2-1 game.

Gennett moved to 2nd on an error by Cody Asche as the Phillies defense began to get sloppy, allowing the hosts to tie it up. Jean Segura reached on a fielder’s choice, with Gennett erased at 3rd on the play. But then after an Elian Herrera single, a throwing error by Jeff Francoeur allowed Segura to score to tie the game at 2-2.

In the 7th, Justin De Fratus replaced Williams. As has been the unfortunate case most of the season, De Fratus was ineffective. Gennett led it off with a perfect bunt single. De Fratus then uncorked a wild pitch, moving him into scoring position. Segura followed with an RBI single, putting Milwaukee up 3-2.

In the bottom of the 8th, Luis Garcia allowed an insurance run, yielding singles to 3 of the first 5 batters he faced around an intentional walk. The extra run gave the Brewers a 4-2 lead, and closer Francisco Rodriguez some breathing room. He recorded his 28th Save with a 1-2-3 inning in the 9th.