Brewers down Phillies, 5-2

Keston Hiura played so well in his debut last night that he moved up one spot in the batting order. He and the rest of the Brewers’ lineup would have to face Jake Arrieta, and the NL East leading Philadelphia Phillies. Gio Gonzalez got the start for the Brew Crew, and he was effective once again. More on that later.

The scoring started early in this one. In the top of the first, Lorenzo Cain singled to left. Jake Arrieta followed the hit by hitting Christian Yelich. With the crowd screaming expletives at him, Ryan Braun singled sharply, scoring Cain to take an early lead.

The Phillies would come right back and tie the game in the bottom of the first when Jean Segura homered into the left field seats. At the end of one, the score was 1-1.

The top of the third proved fruitful for the Brew Crew. Arrieta walked Gonzalez and Cain to start the inning. Yelich loaded the bases with an infield single. The next play was one of the stranger plays you will see. Braun grounded to third baseman, Sean Rodriguez. Gio Gonzalez, who was on third, returned to the bag. LoCain stopped two-thirds of the way to third, and Rodriguez froze.

Gio then took off for home, and Rodriguez subsequently threw him out. The problem was, Rodriguez had an easy double play ordered up with any number of combinations. They were only able to secure the force at home, and the bases remained loaded.

Arrieta, having problems finding the strike zone, walked Mike Moustakas, which scored Cain. Jesus Aguilar would next rip a single up the middle, scoring two and making the score 4-1.

The Brewers were able to tack on another run in the fifth. Ryan Braun rocketed a single up the middle. Moose followed that with a shot to straight away centerfield that Andrew McCutchens seemed to be tracking, but dropped. Braun was able to scamper home for what amounted to an unearned run.

Gio pitched his usual effective 5.1 innings before handing the game over to the bullpen. He scattered seven hits while striking out three. When he did get into trouble in the fifth, Jeremy Jeffrey’s was able to bail him out, 2018 style, getting J.T. Realmuto to pop up and striking out Caesar Hernandez.

Jeffress came back out for the seventh and continued to pitch well. He was the victim of a couple of “seeing eye” singles and and wild pitch that got by Yasmani Grandal. The result was one more run for Philadelphia, and a 5-2 score.

With this season being the final one in which managers can use pitchers for less than three hitters in an inning, Craig Counsell sent Alex Claudio out to face Bryce Harper, and only Bryce Harper in the eighth. Harper grounded out, and Claudio was replaced by Junior Guerra who was able to get both Rhys Hoskins and Realmuto to fly out. The two pitchers combined to throw four pitches in the inning.

Josh Hader entered the game in the bottom of the ninth. Let’s just say he was filthy, hitting 99 mph at one point. That filth notched Hader his 11th save of the season as the Brewers won 5-2.

The Brewers and Phillies finish wrap up the series tomorrow afternoon. First pitch is scheduled for 12:05 CT. The game can be heard on WTMJ and seen on Fox Sports Wisconsin as the battle of the Zach’s transpires. Zach Eflin takes the ball for the Phillies, and Zach Davies does the same for Milwaukee.