Final Score: Phillies 3, Brewers 2
Tuesday was perhaps the most shocking — and pleasantly surprising Phillies victory of the season. And that’s saying something after the rally this team put together on Sunday.
The Milwaukee Brewers were a perfect 27-0 leading after eight innings thanks to their lockdown closer Josh Hader. Hader, 28, threw 38 consecutive scoreless innings in the regular season heading into Tuesday. He was attempting to break Ryan Pressly’s record (41) for most-consecutive scoreless appearances in MLB history.
That is until Alec Bohm came to the plate and launched a high sinker into deep left center field to tie the game. If you thought it couldn’t get any crazier, Matt Vierling, who was recalled from Triple A Sunday night, crushed a hanging slider for a go-ahead home run.
The crowd at American Family Field was in a state of shock. It’s been a while — Game 4 of the 2021 NLDS to be exact — since they’ve seen their team fumble a lead in the ninth. Then Braves slugger Freddie Freeman delivered the dagger against Hader. Nobody expected Bohm and Vierling to take the star closer deep.
And somehow, the Phillies held on to win despite a shaky ninth inning from their closer Corey Knebel, who walked three batters in his outing and has seemingly lost all confidence in his curveball.
Starter Ranger Suárez allowed only two runs through seven innings in what was one of his strongest outings of the season.
The Phillies are now 26-29 and have won five-consecutive games. They’ll go for a series win on Wednesday with Aaron Nola on the mound. Right hander Adrian Houser will oppose him for Milwaukee.
Suarez gets back on track
Suarez’s pitch count by inning went as follows: 16, 9, 7, 17, 17, 15 and 11. A 26-pitch first inning shortened his first outing against Milwaukee on April 22, but this time around, the Phillies lefty was able to take advantage of a scuffling Brewers lineup and induce 11 total groundouts to keep his pitch count down.
The Phillies rotation has been the strength of this team through the first two months, but Suarez and his struggles have been an outlier. Tuesday’s outing was a positive development for the left hander, who now has a 4.42 ERA this season.
Early missed opportunities mount up
The Phillies had plenty of opportunities to put a crooked number up on the board against Brewers starter Jason Alexander, but failed to capitalize on just about all of them. To begin the game, the Phillies had the first two men on with no outs for Bryce Harper. Harper hit a ball sharply to third for a rare 5-6-5 double play to get the lead runners. If Harper had hit that ball a few inches to either side, the Phillies could have had a big first inning on their hands. That’s baseball, I suppose.
The Phillies also came up empty with a runner at third with one out in the second and the bases loaded with one out in the fifth. They went 1-for-7 overall with runners in scoring position against the starter Alexander.
Shibe Vintage Sports Notes
- Per the Phillies, Rob Thomson is the first Phillies manager to win their first four games in charge since Dallas Green won his first four from August 31- September 3, 1979.
Ticket IQ Next Game
- Wednesday, June 8 vs. Milwaukee Brewers at American Family Field
- 8:10 p.m. ET
- TV: NBC Sports Philadelphia
- Radio: Sportsradio 94 WIP
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