The Philadelphia Phillies dropped their series opener against the Milwaukee Brewers 6-2 on a wet Friday evening. The Phillies (36-21) have now dropped their second straight game for the first time since April 25.
Taijuan Walker earned his fourth loss of the season as he struggles in his third straight appearance, two of them starts.
Walker struggles early
The Brewers strung together a few hits off Taijuan Walker in the top of the first to take an early lead. Brice Turang hit a double down the right field line to lead off the inning before advancing to third on a single from Jackson Chourio. A couple batters later, Turang scored on a swinging bunt from William Contreras. Sal Frelick then scored Chourio on a single into center field before Rhys Hoskins struck out with a full count to end the inning.
Walker ran into more trouble in the top of the third. After retiring six straight Brewers batters, Walker allowed back-to-back singles to Christian Yelich and Contreras. Contreras’ single was the 500th of his career, an infield single to Bryson Stott. A timely fly ball to Brandon Marsh in center field, however, kept the Brewers from scoring.
Turner and Schwarber break the ice and extend streaks
DL Hall pitched three scoreless innings for the Brewers, striking out four and allowing one baserunner in the form of a walk to Brandon Marsh. In the bottom of the fourth, the Brewers handed the ball over to Quinn Priester, who was originally slated to start the game.
The Phillies wasted very little time in breaking the ice on Priester. Trea Turner hit a single into left field before Kyle Schwarber slugged a double into right-center field, scoring Turner. Both Turner and Schwarber are now on 11-game on-base streaks. The Phillies were unable to score Schwarber on the inning, but cut the Brewers’ lead in half going into the fifth inning.
Brewers keep on Brewing
Walker sought to get a shutdown inning in the top of the fifth. He got shut down instead. Turang worked a leadoff walk against him before Chourio slung a double down the left field line. Having allowed eight baserunners through just over four innings of work, Walker was sent to the showers in favor of reliever Tanner Banks.
One pitch later, Banks cleared the bases by allowing a three-run home run off Christian Yelich. Banks allowed one more baserunner on the inning but stopped the bleeding as the Brewers took a 5-1 advantage.
Taijuan Walker ended the day having allowed four runs on seven hits and one walk in four-plus innings. He did manage six strikeouts, including two against former-Phillies Rhys Hoskins.
The Phillies offense hit ground ball after ground ball into the seventh inning, when Nick Castellanos began the inning with a home run into left field.
Max Lazar was a bright spot in the Phillies’ bullpen, pitching 2.1 innings of shutout ball, striking out three batters.
“He was really good,” said manager Rob Thomson. “Fastball was good. It’s got a good life, good ride to it. He was landing his breaking ball. He saved the bullpen. That’s what he did.”
In the top of the ninth, Yelich smacked a lead-off home run off of Carlos Hernández. Yelich’s 12th career multi-home run game gave the Brewers an additional insurance run going into the bottom of the ninth.
Breaking down the break downs
Walker’s second start since returning to the rotation to fill in for Aaron Nola has shown more of what the Phillies’ saw in his previous outing. The right-hander got hit hard, allowing four runs in just over four innings of work while allowing a season-high seven runs.
“He came out of the fourth inning and really it was one ball hit hard through four innings,” said Thomson. “Walks the leadoff guy, Chourio, you know, has one-two pitch leaves a cutter over the plate, and then Yelich just kinda went and shut it down right there.”
Thomson went on to explain that Walker is not guaranteed his next start, but Thomson does not want to keep switching Walker from the bullpen to the rotation either. Meanwhile, Mick Abel struck out eight batters on the night for AAA Lehigh Valley.
Back in Philadelphia, the bats went cold on the night.hitting into 18 ground-outs.
“17 [ground balls] on the pull side,” explained Thomson. “Part of that is approach and part of that is the pitching. We’ve got to get back to using the entire field and try to get the ball up in there.”
What’s next for the Phillies?
The Phillies will look to get back in the win column Saturday afternoon in game two against the Brewers. Jesús Luzardo will go against Brewers’ starting pitcher Chad Patrick in the 4:05 P.M. affair.
Mandatory Credit: Kyle Ross-Imagn Images
