Brewer rally falls short, Phils top Crew 10-9

WP: Tommy Hunter (2-0); LP: Chase Anderson (5-6); Save: Jake Thompson (2); Home runs: Phil - Rhys Hoskins (10), Mikail Franco (9), Odubel Herrera (9); Mil - Eric Thames 2 (8.9), Jesus Aguilar (13)

This looks like a slow pitch softball box score

This version of the Milwaukee Brewers (42-29) is never out of a game, and another holiday miracle came up just short when the Philadelphia Phillies’ Obdubel Herrera made a leaping catch of Christian Yelich’s two out drive to the warning track in center to cement the Phils’ 10-9 win. The catch ended a four run rally in the ninth when they needed five, and gave Jake Thompson his second save of the season on one pitch.

The Brewers dropped their second consecutive game to the Phillies (37-32), and again the Brewers allowed too many walks to the Phils. The Crew walked five, and three of them scored. Neither starter (Aaron Nola for Philadelphia, Chase Anderson for Milwaukee) pitched well...and to be fair, nobody on the Brewers pitched well.

Chase Anderson had a weird start against the Phillies today. As usual, he was hit in the opening inning, allowing a lead-off single to Cesar Hernandez (well, it was actually a foul ball, but maybe the ump wasn’t warmed up either), and Rhys Hoskins sent another up-and-in fastball into the leftfield bleachers for a 2-0 lead. After another single, Chase got out of the inning with a popout and double play groundball.

After retiring nine straight, Anderson walked Carlos Santana on a 3-2 pitch and then gave up a two run homer to Mikail Franco. He hit a batter and then got a TOOTBLAN double play on a flyball to Eric Thames in left when Nick Williams lost track of how many outs there were. In the sixth (after striking out the side in the fifth) Anderson got the first out on a liner to third, then Odubel Herrera doubled down the rightfield line. Craig Counsell went with Jeremy Jeffress after another walk to Santana, but the usually reliable righty gave up a walk to load the bases and a two run single to Williams.

So Anderson worked 5.1 innings, allowing five hits, two walks, a hit batter, six earned runs, and five strikeouts. The Phillies left no runners on against Chase, while scoring six times and hitting into two double plays.

The two inherited runs allowed by Jeffress were only the third and fourth of the season, and the fact that he gave up no runs of his own probably doesn’t make JJ feel any better.

Taylor Williams wasn’t effective either. He had the seventh but couldn’t complete the inning, allowing two hits, two walks (one intentional), and two runs with one strikeout. Dan Jennings finished the inning with a four pitch strikeout.

Milwaukee kept responding to the Philadelphia offense, but couldn’t quite keep up. Eric Thames led off the bottom of the second with a 415’ homer to right to halve the lead to two to one.

The Crew tied it up at two in the third inning on an RBI double from Lorenzo Cain, scoring Christian Yelich, who had singled, and then answered the Phils’ two run fourth with a two spot of their own. Cain walked to start the frame and moved up on a balk. He scored on Travis Shaw’s double, and Jesus Agilar dumped a single into right to plate Shaw.

The Brewers were the antithesis of the Phillies in their at bats against Aaron Nola. They left five runners on base in the first four innings, and every one of them was in scoring position. Their two runs in the fifth chased Nola, and their left on base in that inning went only as far as first. Nola went 4.2 innings, allowing seven hits, four earned runs, with four walks and four strikeouts.

After falling back to a 6-4 deficit in the top of the sixth, the Brewers used a double from Manny Pina and a wild pitch on a strikeout to move Pineapple to third. He scored on a sac fly by Yelich. The two runs by Philly in the seventh pushed the game to 8-5.

Adrian Houser worked through some physical illness in the eighth, giving up a run on two doubles and a long out to center (another nice catch by Cain). Houser had to pause for several minutes before starting the inning, and again during the inning. It was obvious that he was effected by his discomfort, and the Phillies hit him hard. 9-5 into the bottom of the eighth.

The Brewers put two runners on with two down in the eighth against Seranthony Domingez on two walks (Thames, Yelich), and Philadelphia went with closer Victor Arano to face Cain. Arano walked LoCain on five pitches, giving Travis Shaw a chance to tie the game, but Travis couldn’t catch up with the Arano fastball and struck out swinging on four pitches.

It’s possible that Houser would have also taken the ninth, but it’s also possible that the Brewers wanted to get Corey Knebel some work. Either way, Ryan Braun pinch hit (strikeout) in the eighth for Houser and Knebel took the ninth. He was as effective as everybody else, allowing a lead-off homerun to Herrera (three hits, a triple shy of the cycle, and a walk, three runs scored) and then a single to Carlos Martinez (three walks and a single). Corey settled down and retired the final three with two strikeouts.

The Crew’s ninth inning comeback off of Hector Neris consisted of a first pitch homerun by Jesus Aguilar (three hits on the day), a single by Jonathan Villar, a second double by Perez, and then a two out, three run homer by Thames, giving him two dingers on the day to go with a walk and a hit-by-pitch, and four RBI. Yelich’s drive narrowly missed tying things up.

Milwaukee travels to Pittsburgh for a three game set with the Pirates, starting Monday night. Jhoulys Chacin (6-1, 3.32) goes for the Brewers and will face the Bucs’ Trevor Williams (5-4, 4.38). Should the Cubs complete the sweep of the Cardinals tonight, they will take over first place in the NL Central.