The Phillies were riding high entering a weekend set with the Milwaukee Brewers, as winners of four series in a row and owners of the best record in the National League.<\/p>\n
Unfortunately for the Phillies, the surging Brewers represented a tougher challenge than the Atlanta Braves and a trio of last-place clubs the Phillies had beaten down. With Bryce Harper (elbow) unavailable all weekend, things were even trickier.<\/p>\n
In Friday night’s series opener, Taijuan Walker labored through four innings and Brewers star Christian Yelich outpaced the entire Phillies offense on his own, slugging a pair of homers in a 6-2 Brewers victory. Jes\u00fas Luzardo took the mound on Saturday afternoon and followed up the best 11-start stretch of his career with the worst start he has ever made, allowing a dozen runs in what became a horrid 17-7 loss.<\/p>\n
Then came Sunday’s series finale, and the red-hot Ranger Su\u00e1rez continued to look strong. The left-hander had tossed six innings of one-run ball, but the first batter he faced in the seventh inning hit a double that Weston Wilson likely should have caught in left field. Orion Kerkering entered the game and got the job done to end the inning \u2014 except Trea Turner booted a routine ground ball with two outs. The tying run scored, and the following batter laced a two-run double to right field. The Phillies should have been out of the inning with their 2-1 lead intact; instead they suddenly trailed 4-2. The Brewers eventually pushed an additional run across in the ninth inning\u00a0against Jordan Romano, handing the Phillies a 5-2 loss to complete the sweep.\u00a0Here is what stood out from an ugly weekend of baseball from the Phillies, who are now 36-23:<\/p>\n
Rhys Hoskins leaves a mark in second return to Philadelphia<\/p>\n
When Hoskins came back to Citizens Bank Park for the first time since the end of his 10-year run with the Phillies organization last June, he received multiple rousing ovations… until he took Zack Wheeler deep, at which point he became just another adversary.<\/p>\n
Hoskins received a few more nice cheers from the crowd in his second return, but it all felt a bit more normal this weekend. Case in point: when Hoskins blasted a three-run shot to left-center field against Luzardo in the first inning on Saturday afternoon, he was met with a chorus of boos:<\/p>\n
After allowing the first four batters he faced to score in the opening frame, Luzardo was in a 4-0 hole when a combination of poor execution on his part and lackluster defense in the fourth inning ignited another Milwaukee rally.\u00a0So, the crowd was even more restless when Hoskins came to bat in the fourth inning.\u00a0Shortly after\u00a0Phillies manager Rob Thomson had been ejected for arguing a balk called on Luzardo, Hoskins stepped to the plate with the Brewers suddenly leading 8-0 and two runners on base.<\/p>\n
As if things were not already out of hand, Hoskins teed off once more, putting the Brewers up 11-0 and devastating a capacity crowd:<\/p>\n
After a very disappointing debut season with the Brewers in 2024 \u2014 not entirely surprising as he came off a torn ACL which forced him to miss the entirety of the prior season \u2014 Hoskins has been stellar for Milwaukee so far in 2025, one of the key pieces of a surging offense. Hoskins was such a valuable component of Phillies lineups because of his valuable blend of plate discipline and power, and he has found it again for the Brewers.<\/p>\n
There has seemingly been plenty of debate recently regarding whether or not the Phillies should trade for Hoskins. While he is the exact type of hitter they need, perhaps it would be wise to hold off on those discussions until the Brewers have any reason to move him \u2014 or the Phillies have an opening at a position he can play.<\/p>\n
Brewers go with an unconventional pitching tactic \u2014 then abandon it<\/p>\n
Before veteran left-hander Jos\u00e9 Quintana took the mound on Sunday, the Phillies were set to face young right-handers Quinn Priester and Chad Patrick on Friday and Saturday. But the Brewers made late changes before both games. On Friday, lefty DL Hall threw three no-hit innings to open the game for Milwaukee before handing the baton to Priester, who was excellent for six innings to finish the game.<\/p>\n
On Saturday, the Brewers made a late change from Patrick to another left-hander, Rob Zastryzny, who appeared primed to open the game for Milwaukee. Thomson shuffled his lineup less than an hour after it was posted, moving Bryson Stott back to the top and essentially using his standard lineup against right-handed pitching. But with Harper still out of the lineup, Milwaukee seemingly opted against it and reverted back to the initial plan of starting Patrick:<\/p>\n
The thinking on this was quite simple. Brewers planned on Bryce Harper being in the lineup; thus, Rob Z starting. When the lineup came out and he wasn\u2019t in there, Pat Murphy called Rob Thomson to tell him they were going with Patrick.<\/p>\n