The Philadelphia Phillies defeated the Milwaukee Brewers at Citizens Bank Park on Friday night to snap a seven game losing streak.
The Fightin’ Phils rode some clutch bullpen work and rare timely hitting to a 6-3 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers on Friday night at Citizens Bank Park, snapping a seven game losing streak.
Somewhat overshadowing the good news was the continued struggle of Phils’ starting pitcher Vincent Velasquez to find his composure.
Velasquez demonstrated once again a consistent penchant for inconsistency, bringing excitement and consternation within the same outing. Both fans and the team have to be at least a little concerned.
This was a particularly see-saw outing for the pitcher who turns 24 years of age early next week. In the 1st and 3rd innings, he retired the Brewers in order, striking out two batters in each inning, and got through the 4th with an economical 13 pitches.
But in both the 2nd and 5th, Velasquez got into trouble. In the 2nd he allowed a single to the leadoff man and then walked the next batter, but another pair of strikeouts helped him work out of that jam.
In the 5th, there was no escape. A single, double, and walk got the bases loaded for the Brewers. Former Phils’ prospect Jonathan Villar, who has been a thorn in his former organization’s side in each of the first two games of this series, lofted a sac fly, and the Brewers were finally on the board.
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When Velasquez walked the next batter to re-load the bases, he was at 18 pitches in the inning with still just one out, had reached 94 total pitches on the night, and was looking in serious trouble.
“Right now it’s getting the best of me. My only job is to work on it tomorrow, go back to film, see what I’ve got to do.” ~ Velasquez on his recent struggles
Phillies’ manager Pete Mackanin had seen enough. Not wanting the team’s 6-0 lead to be totally frittered away, he went to the bullpen.
Velasquez, as has happened before in such situations, was visibly displeased with his removal. Mackanin immediately dealt with that display by calling the second-year player into the private walkway behind the dugout.
On the night, Velasquez allowed two earned runs on four hits over 4.1 innings with six strikeouts and three walks.
“It’s frustrating. I can’t give you a legit answer because I don’t know what’s going on right now,” Velasquez said per CSNPhilly.com’s Corey Seidman. “I’ve got to figure something out. It’s just one of those stages where you’re dealing with adversity. You’ve got to enjoy the failure, you’ve got to fight through it. Right now it’s getting the best of me. My only job is to work on it tomorrow, go back to film, see what I’ve got to do. I’ve got to work on 0-2 counts and try to get ahead of hitters, which I was doing in the beginning .”
Meanwhile out on the mound, Andrew Bailey came on and did a fantastic job, pitching out of that bases loaded jam, allowing just an RBI ground out by the always dangerous Ryan Braun, keeping the game at 6-2.
Bailey (3-0) would deliver another shutout frame in the 6th as well, and would ultimately be credited with the Win in this one.
The Phillies had built that early 6-0 lead by banging around Milwaukee’s best starting pitcher, right-hander Jimmy Nelson.
Catcher Cameron Rupp began the bottom of the 3rd by lining his 3rd home run, a solo shot to right-center field. Later in the frame, both Maikel Franco and Jimmy Paredes delivered RBI singles to stretch the lead out to 3-0.
The Phils then delivered another rarity in the very next frame, producing another three-run outburst. Rupp got it started with a one-out double. Then with two outs and two men on, Andres Blanco clanged a three-run homer off the rail at the top of the wall in right-center.
The Brewers got a final run in the top of the 7th when Villar hit his second home run in as many nights, just his 4th of the season, the solo shot completing the scoring at a 6-3 Phillies advantage.
Hector Neris injected a little final excitement into the proceedings when he walked the first two Brewers batters in the top of the 8th. But the pitcher’s best friend bailed him out, as Chris Carter bounced into a double play.
In the 9th, Jeanmar Gomez came on and looked dominating, setting the Brewers down in order with two strikeouts tossed in, including the final batter swinging for his 18th Save of the season.