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Matt Garza started this game for the Brewers, and it didn’t appear as though things were going to go well in the 1st inning. Garza issued a walk to leadoff batter Cesar Hernandez and then served up a meatball that Freddy Galvis crushed to right field to give the Phillies a 2-0 lead.
That would be all the damage against Garza, though. He wriggled out of a bases-loaded jam in the 2nd inning unscathed, and wound up going 5 innings and giving up just those 2 runs. He walked 3 and fanning 4 while throwing 90 pitches.
The bullpen, namely Carlos Torres, would let things get out of hand again in this game though. Torres came on in the 6th inning and allowed five straight batters to reach and two runs to score before retiring his first batter. After issuing a bases-loaded walk to allow another run to score, he was finally yanked. Rob Scahill came in and allowed one of Torres’ runners to score on a sac fly, but otherwise worked 1.2 scoreless innings with a strikeout. Josh Hader pitched the final frame, a scoreless inning with two punchouts.
Milwaukee’s offense looked mostly helpless against the Phillies’ budding ace Aaron Nola, who allowed only a Brett Phillips’ solo homer as the only blemish on his line. He went 7.0 innings allowing five hits, the one run, walking two and striking out 9. At one point, he struck out 8 of 9 batters he faced during the 3rd-6th innings. Pat Neshek and Hector Nerris would each toss a scoreless inning to close out the 6-1 Phillies’ victory.
Milwaukee’s 6th straight loss drops their record to 52-47. The Cubs lost too, so at least the club maintained their 1-game lead in the NL Central. They’ll resume their series with the Phillies tonight at 6:05 PM CST, with lefty Brent Suter (1-1, 3.09 ERA) scheduled to take on Jeremy Hellickson (6-5, 4.44 ERA).