Brewers pummel Phillies 11-3, take 3 of 4 in series

WP: Zach Davies (5-0)
LP: Zach Elfin (5-4)

HR: Mike Moustakas (11), Yasmani Grandal (8), Christian Yelich 2 (17, 18), Jean Segura (4)

Box Score

In the battle of the Zachs, it was Zach Davies who came out on top, thanks to a big day from the offense, led by Christian Yelich.

Zach Davies was on his game today, pitching six innings in his start. He allowed three runs, but only one of those was charged as earned (the home run he allowed to Jean Segura in the the first inning). The other two were unearned because of three errors by the Brewers, all coming from the middle infield. Keston Hiura had one error and Orlando Arcia had two. Both of those errors by Arcia happened in the third inning on the same play and led to two runs. Those errors caused Davies to work a little harder, but he limited the Phillies to four hits and a walk while striking out five.

Meanwhile, the Brewers offense was on point today. Christian Yelich gave the Brewers an early lead with a solo home run in the first inning. In the third, Ryan Braun tacked on the second run with a ground ball that scored Zach Davies. Speaking of Davies, he had two hits in the game, and the second came on a bunt in the fourth inning. While it was intended to be a squeeze play, the ball got by the defense and ended up as a single, and also tied the game at 3-3.

The Brewers got the lead back in the fourth, after Ryan Braun walked, Mike Moustakas singled to put Braun at third, and Yasmani Grandal hit a sacrifice fly to give the Brewers a 4-3 lead. After that, it was all about tacking on runs for the Brewers. In the seventh, Braun walked to start the inning, and Moustakas was hit by a pitch to put two runners on base. Grandal then delivered with a home run, boosting it to a 7-3 lead. After that, Christian Yelich added on another run with his second home run of the day in the eighth, and then the Brewers loaded the bases and Thames drew a bases loaded walk to increase the lead to 9-3. Moustakas finished up the scoring for the Brewers with a two-run home run in the ninth, giving the Brewers an 11-3 win.

Christian Yelich, Ryan Braun, and Mike Moustakas each had three hits in the game, accounting for nine of the thirteen hits by the offense. Zach Davies was the other Brewer with a multi-hit game, going 2-for-3 at the plate. Grandal and Thames had a single hit each, but also drew two walks a piece to get on base three times. Unfortunately, there were some rough spots, as Ben Gamel, Keston Hiura, and Orlando Arcia went a combined 0-for-15 with 9 strikeouts (4 for Gamel and Hiura) along with 17 left on base.

Next up for the Brewers is a 3-game series in Atlanta to finish up their 10-game road trip. Jhoulys Chacin will start off the series for the Brewers, taking on Max Fried. First pitch is at 6:20 pm.