Phillies survive bullpen collapse, beat the Brewers 9-8
One night after Misiorowski made the Phillies look like they’d never seen a baseball before with his one-hit, 15-strikeout, 104.5 mph shutout, the offense came back Saturday and put up 17 hits and nine runs against the Brewers in a game that should have been a comfortable win and instead turned into a one-run nail-biter because Brad Keller decided to make everyone’s blood pressure spike in the eighth inning.
The Phillies won 9-8 and honestly the final score should not have been that close considering they had a 9-5 lead heading into the bottom of the eighth. Keller faced eight batters in that inning, gave up three hits, walked two, wild-pitched a run home, and allowed three runs before finally getting the last two outs with runners on base against Milwaukee’s three and four hitters.
An inning that never should have been stressful turned into a full-blown crisis because Keller couldn’t throw strikes or locate anything with a four-run cushion. Duran came in for the ninth and shut the door for the save because of course he did, since Duran is the only reliever on this team that you can trust with a lead right now without developing a heart condition.
The Phillies are 38-32 and 29-13 under Mattingly, which is the kind of record that makes you forget this team started 9-19 and fired its manager less than two months ago. The weekend series is tied heading into Sunday’s finale where Sanchez takes the mound with his 1.54 ERA against the best team in the NL Central.
Phillies had 17 hits and the entire lineup reached base
After Friday’s embarrassment where the entire lineup managed one single against Misiorowski, the Phillies came out Saturday and reminded everyone that this is still a talented offensive group when they’re not facing a 6’7″ human pitching machine throwing 104 mph.
Every single player in the starting lineup reached base, which is something that hasn’t happened often enough this season for a team that still ranks near the bottom of the league in runs scored.
Realmuto had three hits including a booming three-run homer to left field in the sixth inning that blew the game open from 4-3 to 7-3 and reminded everyone that JT can still do that when he gets a pitch to drive.
JT Realmuto – RING IT
Marsh had three hits and added a crucial RBI single in the eighth that turned out to be the difference between winning by one and losing in a collapse. Schwarber collected three hits of his own.
Stott ripped two RBI doubles. Sosa homered on an 0-2 pitch up around his eyeballs in the second, which is the kind of pitch that most hitters take for a ball and Sosa somehow got the barrel to.
The five-run sixth inning was the highlight of the night because it showed the Phillies’ ability to come back after Nola gave away a 3-0 lead.
Marsh and Sosa started the rally with hits, Stott broke the tie with his second double of the night, Realmuto launched the three-run shot, and Harper added a sac fly to make it 8-3. That’s the kind of inning this team is capable of producing when the lineup is clicking and the middle of the order is doing damage with runners on base.
Nola Continues to Be a Problem
Nola gave up three runs on two homers across 4 2/3 innings, which marks the second straight game where he failed to make it through the fifth and the sixth time in 14 starts overall that he’s been pulled before completing five innings.
Both homers came on curveballs, which has been his best pitch this season and one of the best in all of baseball, so getting burned on the one offering that has been carrying his entire arsenal is particularly frustrating.
The curveball-heavy approach that seemed to fix Nola during the two San Diego starts hasn’t translated consistently against better lineups, and Milwaukee is a significantly better lineup than the Padres.
When Nola throws the curve for strikes and buries it in the zone, hitters can’t touch it. When he leaves it up or hangs it even slightly, it gets crushed because the pitch doesn’t have enough velocity to survive in the middle of the zone against good hitters.
The Phillies’ offense bailed Nola out Saturday in a way that hasn’t been possible for most of the season because the lineup has typically produced two or three runs on nights when Nola struggles.
Getting nine runs allowed the Phillies to absorb Nola’s bad outing, Alvarado giving up a two-run homer to Chourio in the seventh, and Keller’s near-meltdown in the eighth and still win the game by a run. That won’t happen most nights and the Phillies know it.
Brad Keller Trust Tree Is At An All-Time Low
I need to talk about the eighth inning because what Keller did with a 9-5 lead was genuinely inexcusable. Four runs of cushion heading into the bottom of the eighth with just six outs to get and Keller turned it into a one-run game by walking guys, giving up hits, and wild-pitching a run home. He faced eight batters in one inning with a four-run lead and the Phillies were lucky to escape without blowing the game entirely.
The bullpen has been reliable overall under Mattingly but Keller has become the weak link in the middle innings and Saturday was the latest evidence that handing him the ball with a lead is becoming a gamble the Phillies can’t afford.
Duran at the back end is lockdown. Alvarado and Kerkering have been solid for most of the season. Keller is the guy who turns comfortable leads into uncomfortable situations and the coaching staff needs to start finding ways to bridge the gap from the starter to the closer without putting him in positions where he can give games away.
Sanchez Gets the Series Finale
The series is tied at one game apiece heading into Sunday’s finale where Sanchez takes the mound against a Brewers team that leads the NL Central at 42-26. His 1.54 ERA sits just behind Misiorowski’s 1.34 for the best in baseball, and Sunday is another opportunity for Sanchez to make his Cy Young case against one of the best teams in the league.
Maybe the bullpen gets a day off too since Sanchez has thrown at least seven innings in seven consecutive starts, which is exactly the kind of outing the relievers need after Keller’s eighth-inning adventure on Saturday. Hand the ball to Sanchez, let him go seven or eight, and give Duran a clean ninth if needed. The formula is simple when your ace is on the mound and Sunday is Sanchez’s day to work.
Seventeen hits on Saturday after one hit on Friday is the kind of offensive whiplash that has defined this team all season, but a win is a win and taking the series in Milwaukee would be a massive statement heading into the final stretch before the All-Star break. Let Sanchez close it out.
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