Brewers rally late to top Phillies; Hernandez continues to shine in Utley’s absence

Final: Brewers 4, Phillies 3

WP: Neal Cotts (1-0, 3.94 ERA) LP: Ken Giles (3-2, 2.12 ERA) SV: Francisco Rodriguez (17)

Philadelphia, PA - A late rally by the Milwaukee Brewers (31-48), in the top of the eighth inning, handed the Philadelphia Phillies (27-52) their fourth loss in their last five games under interim manager Pete Mackanin.

With the month of June coming to a close, the Phillies posted a 8-19 record (.296), and was outscored 160-106. Overall this season, they have -127 run differential, being outscored 390 runs to 263.

In the absence of second baseman Chase Utley, the switch-hitting Cesar Hernandez has turned some heads with his play on the field. Tuesday night, he became the first Phillie to steal six or more bases in a four-game stretch since "The Flyin' Hawaiian", Shane Victorino in 2007.This homestand, the 25-year-old Venezuela-native is batting .500/.524/.550 with 10 hits in 20 at-bats, one of them being a double.


  1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Brewers 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 4 10 3
Phillies 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 3 8 0

It did not take long for scoring to get underway in Tuesday night's game. In the top of the first inning, after catcher Jonathan Lucroy and right fielder Ryan Braun walked and singled respectively, third baseman Aramis Ramirez later brought both runners home by singling to center field, his 31st and 32nd runs-batted-in of the season.

The Phillies added one run, in both the bottom of the second and third innings, to tie the game at two. After first baseman Ryan Howard walked, left fielder Cody Asche singled and catcher Carlos Ruiz being awarded first base after getting hit by a pitch, shortstop Freddy Galvis grounded out to first to score Howard from third.

The Phillies' scored run during the next inning, in the bottom of the third, occurred exactly the same. After second baseman Cesar Hernandez walked, third baseman Maikel Franco singled and Howard was hit by a pitch, right fielder Domonic Brown grounded out in a force out to allow Hernandez to score.

Another run was not scored by either team again until the bottom of the sixth inning, where the Phillies took a 3-2 lead thanks to a home run from Ruiz. This was his first since September 5 of last season, 219 at-bats ago.

Hamels was excellent Tuesday night, and was in-line for a winning decision upon exiting after the seventh inning. He allowed just two earned runs, over five hits and one walk, while striking out seven batters.

Unfortunately, in the top of the eighth with right handed, back-of-the-bullpen reliever Ken Giles on the mound, the possibility of Hamels earning his sixth winning decision of the season was all but nullified.

The Brewers rallied with two outs to score two runs, subsequently taking a 4-3 lead. After singles from Braun and center fielder Carlos Gomez, Ramirez brought home his third run of the night with a RBI-single to Phillies' center fielder Odubel Herrera.

Giles then surrendered back-to-back walks, and was replaced by Luis Garcia by Mackanin. The second walk allowed by Giles, to pinch-hitter Adam Lind, was with the bases loaded and thus scored Milwaukee's fourth and final run of the night.

Philadelphia's Garcia threw 1.1 shutout innings of relief, allowing two hits, but the offense ultimately could not rally back to the tie game in either the bottom of the eighth or ninth innings.


Starting Pitchers

  IP H R ER BB SO HR ERA
Taylor Jungmann 6 5 3 2 2 4 1 2.79
Cole Hamels 7 5 2 2 1 7 0 3.22

  • Jungmann: ND; 103 pitches, 61 strikes; 11 groundouts, 1 flyout; 27 faced batters
  • Hamels: ND; 111 pitches, 72 strikes; 8 groundouts, 1 flyout; 27 faced batters

Out of the 'Pen

Brewers

  • Corey Knebel (7th): 0.2 IP, 1 H, o R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 SO, 0 HR, 2.66 ERA
  • Neal Cotts (7th): 0.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 SO, 0 HR, 3.94 ERA
  • Will Smith (8th): 0.1 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 0 SO, o HR, 1.23 ERA
  • Jeremy Jeffress (8th): 0.2 IP, 0 H , 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 0 SO, o HR, 3.03 ERA
  • Francisco Rodriguez (9th): 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER,  1 BB, 2 SO, 0 HR, 1.50 ERA

Phillies

  • Ken Giles (8th): 0.2 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 1 SO, 0 HR, 2.12 ERA
  • Luis Garcia (8th, 9th): 1.1 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 SO, 0 HR, 3.25 ERA

At the Plate

Brewers

  • Ryan Braun: 4-5, 2 R, 2B, .275 AVG
  • Aramis Ramirez: 2-4,  3 RBI, .222 AVG
  • Hernan Perez: 2-4, 3B, .241 AVG

Phillies

  • Cesar Hernandez: 1-4, R, BB, .276 AVG
  • Carlos Ruiz: 1-2, R, HR, RBI, BB, .221 AVG
  • Freddy Galvis: 2-4, .260 AVG


What's Next

Date/Time Milwaukee Brewers Philadelphia Phillies TV Radio
W, 7/1 RHP Kyle Lohse RHP Aaron Harang CSN 94WIP, 1210 WPHT
7:05 (4-9, 6.28 ERA) (4-10, 3.56 ERA)
R, 7/2 RHP Matt Garza RHP Chad Billingsley CSN 94WIP, 1210 WPHT
6:35 (4-10, 5.52 ERA) (0-2, 6.75 ERA)


Matt Rappa (@mattrappa) is managing editor of Philliedelphia.com.

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