After escaping Florida with a win yesterday, the Philadelphia Phillies headed to Milwaukee to open up a three game series against the Brewers today. Zack Wheeler was scratched from the rotation yesterday, so the Phillies could position him against the Brewers today, and the Braves later this month. Wheeler struggled over his last few starts but bounced back in a big way today against another NL Cy Young hopeful Brandon Woodruff, throwing six shutout innings, allowing five hits and zero walks while striking out nine.

The Phillies came alive at the plate and destroyed the Brewers 12-0, thanks to Bryce Harper, Freddy Galvis, Brad Miller, Andrew McCutchen and Jean Segura, who all hit home runs in the route.

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Today’s win let the Phillies grab a half game on the Atlanta Braves in the National League East divisional race. They are now just 1.5 games behind Atlanta, and 2 games back in the race for the second and final Wild Card spot. Not to get ahead of ourselves, but if the Phillies win the NL East, they will face the Brewers, who are running away with the NL Central division, in the NLDS, which should have everyone excited.

The Phillies are now 5-0 against the Brewers this year. They swept the Brewers last May in Philadelphia and have two more games in Milwaukee left before a potential NLDS matchup. On May 6th, Wheeler pitched a complete game shutout and only allowed three hits to the Brewers. Today, he continued his dominance over Brandon Woodruff and the Brew Crew.

Bryce Harper’s two run home run in the top of the first inning set the tone. Freddy Galvis followed in the second with a solo home run. Brad Miller hit his first of two home runs of the day in the top of the fourth inning, and the Phillies blew open the game in the top of the 8th inning with Andrew McCutchen hitting a solo home run and Jean Segura hitting a grand slam, the first of his career, to extend the Phillies lead to 11-0 entering the final inning.

Hector Neris threw another scoreless frame and now, over the last two months, Neris has allowed just 14 hits and four runs over his last 28 1/3 innings. Matt Moore pitched two scoreless innings and struck out the side in the eighth.

The Phillies will send Aaron Nola (7-7, 4.54 ERA) to the mound tomorrow to face Eric Lauer (4-5, 3.43 ERA).

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Mandatory Credit: The Philadelphia Phillies Twitter