Takeaways after Phillies win second straight for the first time since April
Photo via Philadelphia Phillies' Twitter
It’s about time, but the Philadelphia Phillies have won two-straight games for the first time since April. They’ve beaten the Milwaukee Brewers by one-run again Tuesday night.
The win gave the Phillies’ record at 15-15. It marked the first time that the often sloppy, consistently inconsistent team has won back-to-back games since the third and fourth games of the season, a span of 24 games.
Here’s three takeaways:
The mistake
Instead of the postgame focus being on the modest winning streak, it was on the dugout mistake that came to light in the top of the seventh inning.
Phillies starter Aaron Nola completed six innings of work and now Girardi was going to the bullpen with a five-run lead. He called upon Enyel De Los Santos for the top of the seventh inning, but De Los Santos, called up earlier in the day, was not listed on the umpires’ official lineup card and therefore was ruled ineligible after he trotted in from the bullpen.De Los Santos was called up from Triple A earlier in the day.
Why his name did not make it on the official lineup card that was given to the umpires before the first pitch was not immediately known.
The blunder reflected poorly on Girardi, who in the ensuing moments watched his team’s five-run lead shrink to one.
Nola’s night backed up by the nice bullpen
Nola had an interesting night in which he battled command issues but managed to hold the Brewers to one run over six innings.
Nola allowed a double, a single, and two walks in the first inning but gave up just one run in the inning. He needed 30 pitches to complete the inning and got the final out with the bases loaded.
Nola allowed just one baserunner over the next four innings and benefitted from a pair of solo homers by Andrew McCutchen, an RBI base hit by Alec Bohm, and a three-run homer by Brad Miller in taking a 6-1 lead into the sixth inning.
With his pitch count rising above 100, Nola allowed two hits to open the sixth inning and he hit a batter with one out to load the bases. With the pressure on, Nola got a fly ball and a strikeout (a 94 mph fastball on his 114th pitch) to keep the Brewers from scoring.
De Los Santos was told to leave the field as he arrived at the mound for his warmups. He was replaced by David Hale, who allowed the first three batters of the inning to reach base on a single, a hit batsman, and another single. With a run in, JoJo Romero was brought into the game. Another run scored on a groundout and two more came home on Jackie Bradley Jr.’s two-run homer with two outs.
Bradley’s homer cut the Phils’ lead to 6-5. The Brewers got no closer thanks to Coonrod.
McCutchen’s 2 homers
McCutchen, who’s been struggling as of late, had a big game.
He started his night with a leadoff home run into the Phillies’ bullpen.
Then, he hit another one into the front row in left field to give the Phillies a 2-1 lead.
Another important note, is Miller absolutely crushed this baseball. Miller hit a three-run home run into the second-deck in right field to give the Phillies a 6-1 lead.
Up next
The Phillies will go for three straight wins Wednesday night with Chase Anderson on the bump. Freddy Peralta will take the hill for the Brewers.
