Being swept is rough enough, but being swept at home is probably the worst. If they had been swept playing good baseball, maybe that would be a bit more comforting. They would have been a few bounces away from avoiding the ignominy. Instead, the people were treated to baseball that was probably the worst the Phillies have played this season.
The first inning was threatening to be rough when a single and an error put the first hitter of the game on second base. Ranger Suarez, starting for the Phillies, hit Christian Yelich with a pitch with one out and the Brewers were cooking, but Suarez was somehow able to wriggle out of it with a few groundballs to end the threat. In their half, Trea Turner led off with a walk, stole second, then stole third with two outs, then scampered home on a single by J.T. Realmuto that put the Phillies on top to begin the game.
In the second inning, the Phillies struck again. Two walks and a fly ball put runners on the corners with two out for Kyle Schwarber. In these cases, Schwarber has been excellent this year and today was no different, only maybe a different outcome than we might have expected.
Listen, a run is a run.
As the Phillies were scoring, Suarez was cruising. He looked quite good for most of his outing, keeping the hot hitting Brewers lineup in check. In the fifth, he allowed a run when a single and a double put runners on first and third with one out. Jackson Chourio grounded into a force out that put Milwaukee on the board, but Suarez was able to keep the rest of the hitters at bay.
The issues came in the seventh.
Caleb Durbin led the inning off for Milwaukee with a ball that was badly misplayed into a double by Weston Wilson before Suarez was subbed out for Orion Kerkering. Kerkering got Joey Ortiz to fly out for the first out before walking Brice Turang. Chourio then hit what looked to be a ground ball double play that would have ended the inning, but he beat out the throw to first and the Brewers had runners on first and third with two outs. William Contreras then his a routine ground ball to Turner at shortstop and…
Yeah.
The score tied, you know what happens next. Two more runs were tacked on when pinch hitter Jake Bauers doubled in Chourio and Contreras and the Brewers had the lead and the momentum. Curiously, the Phillies, in their half of the seventh, got a one out double from Turner to maybe start a little something, but against lefty Jared Koening, Schwarber swung at a 3-0 fastball and popped it 8,000 feet in the air, giving the team a second out. Should he have had the green light? Maybe not, but we’ll never know.
They got one more in the ninth when Turang singled home Ortiz to make it a 5-2 final and a sweep for the Brewers.
The Phillies will try and wash this one down the drain when they go to Toronto for another series.