Phillies Blow Three Run Lead, Fall to Brewers 5-3
The Phillies fell to the Brewers Saturday afternoon 5-3 behind a Zack Wheeler four-run 5th inning.
The Phillies picked up directly where they left off on Friday night by jumping on the Brew Crew to the tune of a 3-0 lead through four innings.
But in the 5th inning the wheels completely fell off for Zack Wheeler, (no pun intended), as he allowed five hits and four earned runs behind some shoddy defense. That poor defense seems to be becoming a trend within the Phillies crooked frames and should come as no surprise to anyone who has read our coverage of the team of late.
Wheeler once again took the loss falling to 0-3 on the season. After allowing five runs today, Wheeler’s ERA has ballooned to 8.53, a far cry from the stingy 2.78 ERA mark he put up in 2021.
The winning run was scored on a bad throw by JT Realmuto, who was attempting to catch a stealing runner at second. Instead the ball skipped past Jean Segura allowing the runner on third to reach home with a stolen base.
Hunter Renfroe had an big day going 3-4, 2 R, 1 RBI including a big home run in the 6th inning off Christopher Sanchez to put the Brewers up 5-3.
Once again the Phillies bullpen was terrific in relief allowing only 1 ER and two hits over four inning of work. Despite owning a 4.58 ERA, which entering the day was good for 30th in the baseball, the recently trends have pointed to an improved pen. There is nowhere to go but up after posting two of the worst seasons recorded by a bullpen.
Brewers (9-6) Beat Phillies (6-9)
- Winning Pitcher: Adrian Houser (1-2)
- Losing Pitcher: Zack Wheeler (0-3)
- Save: Josh Hader (7)
Nick Castellanos opened up the scoring in the first inning driving in Bryce Harper with an RBI double to the opposite field.
Castellanos has looked strong early on this season slashing .321/.381/.571 with 3 HR and 9 RB.
1-0 Phillies
Zack Wheeler was cruising early allowing only two hits through 4 innings.
Odubel Herrera, who was making his second start after returning from a oblique strain that sidelined him during most of Spring Training, led off the 3rd inning with this exciting triple. Herrera has looked solid with his early on and could be a big improvement over the struggling Matt Vierling.
Kolten Wong lost track of the ball while trying to make an over the back catch allowing Jean Segura to reach base on an error and score Odubel Herrera from third.
2-0 Phillies
Jean Segura was able to steal third base on a sleeping Adrian Houser setting up Nick Castellanos who drove in his second run of the day with a sac-fly in the 3rd inning.
3-0 Phillies
Zack Wheeler missed his spot with a curveball and Jace Peterson was able to line a single to center field scoring the first run of the game for the Brewers.
3-1 Phillies
This hit by Willy Adames to left field could have easily been caught by a better defender. Instead Kyle Schwarber got a late jump on the ball and wasn’t able to make a play. Instead of limiting the damage in the inning to one run it turned out to be a game defining play.
3-2 Phillies
Christian Yelich tied the game up with a base hit to right field in an inning that simply slipped away from the Phillies with poor pitching and defense.
3-3 Brewers
Not sure what the Phillies were thinking here trying to keep the runner from stealing. It was a rare poor throw from JT Realmuto who is usually so steady throwing to second base. You can argue that Jean Segura should have come up with the baseball as well but instead Willy Adames was able to reach home on what would be credit as a stolen base.
4-3 Brewers
Hunter Renfroe cracked this sinker from Christopher Sanchez, 402 feet into center field to extend the Brewers lead in the 6th inning.
5-3 Brewers
Josh Hader who is in my opinion the best relief pitcher in baseball closed out the Phillies with an eleven pitch 9th inning in which the Phils failed to register a hit.
Up Next
The Phillies will look to take the rubber match of the series Sunday night against the Milwaukee Brewers at Citizens Bank Park.
Aaron Nola (1-2) will get the nod against Eric Lauer (1-0) with the first pitch scheduled for 7:00 pm.
The game will be nationally televised on ESPN.
