Brewers lose to Phillies in extra-inning heartbreaker

Box Score

For the second straight game, the Milwaukee Brewers did a great job keeping the powerful Philadelphia Phillies offense off the board, and for the second straight game, the Brewers offense failed to get the big hit against the talented Phillies pitching staff.

Not much happened early. Phillies starter Cristopher Sánchez, true to form, got ground ball out after ground ball out. Brewers opener Jared Koenig hit 99 on the radar gun and worked around an infield hit to get four outs, handing it over to Colin Rea with one out in the bottom of the second inning. Rea gave up a double to Brewers nemesis David Dahl (a ball that was nearly caught on what would have been an incredible play by center fielder Blake Perkins) but worked around it and finished the second with the game scoreless.

The Brewers got on the board first in the top of the third, after a leadoff double by Perkins. He used his speed and savvy baserunning to make it happen, getting to third on a Jackson Chourio flyout and home on a weak RBI ground out from Andruw Monasterio. It was a nicely manufactured run - somewhere, Ned Yost smiled.

From there, Rea and Sánchez both locked in. Rea would scatter two hits and two walks over four innings, making a nice defensive play in the fourth when he gloved a ball that ricocheted off his foot and made a glove flip to first for the out. His only real trouble after the second inning came in the bottom of the fifth when he walked Kyle Schwarber with two outs and then hit J.T. Realmuto and had to face Bryce Harper with two on. But Rea got Harper, the lefty, to ground out to first baseman Rhys Hoskins and got through it.

Sánchez, meanwhile, just kept getting groundout after groundout and cruised after the third inning. He ended up getting through six innings while allowing only four hits and one walk. He didn’t strike many batters out, but he also didn't give up good contact.

After Rea struck out Alec Bohm to start the bottom of the sixth, Perkins added to his “almost incredible catches” highlight reel and just missed a ball while crashing into the center field wall. (Be careful, Blake.) Instead, Stott had a double, and then Rea walked Castellanos, and that was it for him. Bryan Hudson was the first choice out of the bullpen, and he struck out pinch hitter Cristian Pache and got Edmundo Sosa to fly out and the Brewers were out of the jam.

Despite having thrown only 83 pitches, Sánchez was done after six, and the Phillies turned it over to the bullpen. José Ruiz got the seventh and allowed a Hoskins single but was otherwise flawless. Hudson remained in for the Brewers and worked around a walk to put up another zero. Orion Kerkering showed off his nasty stuff in the eighth, striking out Chourio and Ortiz on seven pitches and getting pinch hitter Brice Turang to ground out weakly.

It was beginning to feel like the Brewers were either going to win this game 1-0 or they were not going to win it. To preserve that lead, they turned to Elvis Peguero for the bottom of the eighth. Unfortunately, his third pitch was hit into the left field seats by Bohm, and the game was tied. Peguero got through the inning with no further damage, but the Milwaukee offense would need to step up.

That was a tall order against lefty Matt Strahm, who came in for the top of the ninth with a 0.75 ERA (and 0.68 FIP), zero home runs, and three walks in 25 outings. But the Brewers started nicely: William Contreras battled, worked from behind into a full count and fouled off a bunch of pitches (including one directly to Realmuto’s … personal area, which led to a bit of a delay) and finally knocked a leadoff single into left field on the 10th pitch of the at-bat. Christian Yelich pounced on the very next pitch and hit a single through the right side.

Mr. Clutch Willy Adames was the next batter and he just missed one, hitting a fly ball to the warning track in right, but it did at least advance Contreras to third base with one out. That brought up—who else?—Hoskins, who was no longer being cheered by the home crowd. Unfortunately for the Brewers, Strahm found his form, struck out Hoskins (a disappointing backwards K, given the situation), and got Gary Sánchez to fly out to shallow center field.

Trevor Megill was the man to try to get the Brewers to extra innings, and he didn’t get off to a great start, giving up a leadoff single to the speedy Johan Rojas. Rojas stole second on what was nearly a strike-em-out-throw-em-out double play, getting into scoring position for Realmuto with one out. Megill managed to strike out Realmuto with a nasty slider, then intentionally walked Harper to bring up Bohm, who Megill would not allow to have another heroic moment, striking him out with three straight 100-mph fastballs. This one would be decided in extra innings.

Milwaukee would face Seranthony Domínguez in the top of the tenth, and brought in Oliver Dunn to replace Sánchez as the ghost runner. A weak Perkins ground ball worked effectively as a sacrifice bunt, putting Dunn on third. The first pitch to pinch hitter Sal Frelick might have been a run-scoring wild pitch, but it hit Frelick on the foot, putting runners on first and third with one out. Frelick stole second to remove the double play possibility, but with a drawn-in infield, Turang hit a groundball to second baseman Bryson Stott that ended with Dunn getting thrown out at the plate. Ortiz popped out, and the Brewers did not score in the top of the 10th.

Joel Payamps would be tasked with trying to keep the Phillies off the board. After an intentional walk to create a double play opportunity, there would be no drama: Nick Castellanos lined Payamps’ first and only pitch into the right field corner, and the game was over.

For the second night, the Milwaukee pitching staff did a good job but the offense looked anemic. They had their chances tonight but went 0-for-9 with runners in scoring position and Perkins’ double was their only extra-base hit.

The young Brewers are a good team, and they’ve played this great Phillies team tough two games in a row. They don’t have anything to show for it. Sometimes, that’s baseball.

Milwaukee will look to salvage a game from this series tomorrow afternoon, when an unknown Brewers pitcher (possibly Aaron Ashby) will take on Aaron Nola at 3:05 p.m.