Phillies Penned in by Brewers

6. 6. 76. Final. 3

The Philadelphia Phillies lost to the Milwaukee Brewers on Saturday afternoon at Citizens Bank Park in South Philly.

Friday night’s win was not the beginning of a Phillies turnaround, as it turns out. The Phils were beaten again this afternoon by the Brewers, this time by a 6-3 score.

So now it’s losses in 8 of 9, and in 12 of the last 15, and even further back, the Phillies have dropped 14 of their last 19 games.

This afternoon it was a blown lead, a poor outing from starting pitcher Jeremy Hellickson, and a couple of former Phillies farm hands that did in the home side.

The Phillies built an early lead thanks to a three-run burst in the 2nd inning that overcame an early Brewers run. Jonathan Villar, former Phils’ farm hand #1, drove a full count offering from Hellickson out on a line to right field as the leadoff batter of the game.

But then in the 2nd, the Phillies got to Milwaukee starter Junior Guerra. The inning began with Tommy Joseph blasting his 4th homer of the year out to deep center field, tying the game at 1-1.

One out later, Tyler Goeddel legged out a triple. He was immediately followed by Cesar Hernandez, who drilled a high fly that carried just over the center field fence for his 1st home run of the season. The two-run shot put the Phillies up early by a 3-1 score.

That would prove to be all of the scoring offense for the game for the Fightin’ Phils. The Brewers got back even with solo runs in the 4th and 5th innings.

“After that second inning, I thought we were going to have a good day offensively,” manager Pete Mackanin said per MLB.com’s Even Webeck. “Boy, I couldn’t believe Cesar hit that home run to dead center. That’s why I thought we were going to be in for a good day. The ball was really carrying.“

More from That Balls Outta Here

In the 4th, Villar singled to score another former Phils’ farm hand, right fielder Domingo Santana. Then in the 5th, catcher Jonathan Lucroy led off with a triple and scored the tying run when Chris Carter followed with a sacrifice fly.

Hellickson allowed seven hits and three walks over five laborious innings in which he threw only 64 strikes (59%) among his 108 total pitches. Guerra wasn’t much better, allowing six hits and two walks over six innings.

The game moved into the late innings still tied at 3-3, and the Brewers bullpen took over. In the final three frames, the Milwaukee relief corps of Will Smith, Tyler Thornburg, and Jeremy Jeffress would each pitch a perfect frame. Ultimately, Smith (1-0) would earn the Win, Thornburg his 12th Hold, and Jeffress his 15th Save of the season.

The Brewers went ahead in the top of the 8th when Santana led off by bombing a 3-1 offering from Phils’ reliever Hector Neris out over the left field wall. His 4th home run of the season put Milwaukee ahead by a 4-3 score.

Santana had been signed by the Phils as an amateur free agent out of the Dominican Republic back in 2009, and was sent to the Houston Astros back in August of 2011 to complete the Hunter Pence trade. The Astros then dealt him to Milwaukee last July.

Villar was signed by the Phillies the previous year of 2008, also out of the Dominican Republic. He was dealt to the Astros as well, in the July 2010 trade for Roy Oswalt. He was obtained by the Brewers from Houston this past November.

In the top of the 9th, Scooter Gennett put the game out of reach with a two-out, two-run single that pushed the Brew Crew lead out to 6-3. Since the weak Phillies offense has reached as many as 7 runs just three times all year, the term “out of reach” is justified.

Tomorrow’s series finale will face a serious challenge from Mother Nature. If they get the game in, the Phils will be hoping to gain a split of this four-gamer, and avoid losing a fourth consecutive series.

Next: Phillies Fans Need to Remain Patient

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