Box Score
There’s no slowing down for the Brewers this season. With the first 100-win season in franchise history on the horizon, and the Dodgers close behind them in the race for the best record, the Brewers still have work to do. They kept up the pace tonight, earning their 99th win of the season in a 4-1 victory over the Phillies.
The Brewers didn’t take long to get on the board. With two outs in the first inning, Brice Turang hit his 20th home run of the season, 108.4 mph and 406 feet out to right-center
field. It’s his first 20 home run season, and he’s one stolen base away from a 20-20 season.
Meanwhile, Logan Henderson had to work a bit to get through his first inning. He got Kyle Schwarber to a full count before striking him out, then got Trea Turner to ground out. Bryce Harper worked a full count before drawing a walk, but Luis Arraez popped out to end the inning. He needed 21 pitches to get through the first.
Nola came out strong in the second with strikeouts of Jake Bauers and Joey Ortiz. Up next was Christian Yelich, and he hit what was hopefully a slump buster. He hit an inside cutter out to right field, with a 106.1 m.p.h. exit velocity. It traveled 378 feet for Yelich’s 12th home run of the season.
Meanwhile, the Phillies threatened to take the lead in the second inning. The first three batters — Alec Bohm, Bryston Stott, and Brandon Marsh — all reached base thanks to a single, double, and walk. With the bases loaded and no outs, Henderson had his work cut out for him. On the next pitch, J.T. Realmuto hit a ground ball hard, but right to Turang. It was a bit too slow to turn a double play, but Turang got the out at first. Bohm scored and the lead was cut to 2-1.
Henderson recovered from there. He kept the ball on the edge of the strike zone and got Justin Crawford to fly out to shallow right, not deep enough for Scott to try to score (though it might have been a close play at the plate). Schwarber was up next, and Henderson didn’t throw a pitch in the strike zone, but fooled Schwarber well enough. On a 1-2 count, he grounded out to Turang to end the inning, preserving a 2-1 lead.
With the lead down to one, the Brewers got some insurance the next inning. David Hamilton drew a walk to start the inning, but swapped places with Mitchell after he grounded out. After Chourio struck out, Turang doubled to put runners at second and third. That brought up William Contreras, who hit a ground ball through the gap between second and third for a two-run RBI single. That extended the lead to 4-1.
From there, both pitchers locked in for the next two innings. Henderson got his pitch count back in control with a 1-2-3 third inning. Bohm followed that with a 1-2-3 inning of his own for the first time in the game. In the bottom of the fourth, Stott doubled to give the Phillies another scoring opportunity, but he was stranded there.
After the Brewers went down in order again in the top of the fifth, Henderson had to work his way through another jam. Crawford singled and Schwarber walked to put two runners on base with no outs. Turner moved Crawford up to third with a fly out. Next up was Harper, who hit a fly ball into foul territory, and Hamilton ran it down near the tarp, keeping Crawford at third. Arraez then flew out to Chourio for the third out, keeping it a 4-1 game.
It wasn’t Henderson’s best day, but he held the Phillies to just one run. Over five innings, he allowed four hits and three walks, but just that one run. He also struck out three in the game. It was his 23rd game allowing three or fewer runs in a start, which ties an MLB record.
Nola was sharp with his strikeouts tonight, recording eight strikeouts in his six innings. However, the Brewers got to him early and scored four runs in his first three innings. Nola did retire the last 10 Brewers he faced in order, but the damage was done. In six innings, he allowed four runs on four hits and one walk. The Brewers only had one at-bat with runners in scoring position, which was Contreras’ two-RBI single.
DL Hall was first out of the bullpen for the Brewers. In the sixth, he allowed a one-out walk to Stott, but nothing else. Two excellent plays — a leaping catch from Hamilton and a diving stop and throw from Ortiz — aided him that inning. He got into some trouble in the seventh, hitting Schwarber with a pitch before allowing a single to Turner. That was it, as he stranded both runners with two ground balls to get out of the inning.
Tanner Banks took the seventh for the Phillies and allowed a single to Ortiz to start. Yelich tried to bunt him over but failed, with an easy throw to second to get the lead runner. Frelick then grounded into a double play to end the inning. Banks followed that up with a scoreless eighth, working around a two-out single from Jackson Chourio.
With the bullpen rested, Abner Uribe got the call in the bottom of the eighth. He got two quick groundouts, but Bryan De La Cruz hit a ground-rule double to give the Phillies another runner in scoring position. Uribe struck out Realmuto to strand him there, keeping it a 4-1 game.
Max Lazar pitched the top of the ninth for the Phillies. Contreras gave the Brewers a lead runner when he reached first after Bohm threw wide and completely missed Lazar. That was all the Brewers could muster, as Bauers struck out and Ortiz grounded into a double play to end the inning.
Going for his 30th save, Trevor Megill took the ninth. He didn’t face any trouble, pitching a 1-2-3 inning with a strikeout of Turner to end it. He secured the save and the Brewers’ 99th win.
The Phillies had their scoring chances, but the Brewers did not break. The Phillies had six hits — three of them doubles — along with four walks and a hit batter. However, the Brewers’ pitching staff stranded almost all of them. The Phillies went 0-for-12 with runners in scoring position and left 10 runners on base.
Meanwhile, the Brewers had six hits and one walk, but made their chances count. Solo home runs from Turang and Yelich put them on the board, and Contreras gave them some insurance with his RBI single. Turang was the lone batter on base twice tonight, going 2-for-4 with an RBI and two runs scored.
With the win, the Brewers are now one win away from their first 100-win season in franchise history. They also lowered their magic number for the top seed in the National League and best record in baseball to three, pending tonight’s Padres-Dodgers game.
They will go for the series win tomorrow night. The Phillies will send out Andrew Painter. Meanwhile the Brewers have yet to announce a starter, but Bryse Wilson is a possibility. First pitch is a little earlier at 5:05 p.m.
