Phillies’ offense goes limp, leading to a loss in Friday’s series opener against the Brewers
As Bryce Harper sat out the third straight game with a bruised elbow, the Phillies' offense was anemic, finishing with just four hits.
Nick Castellanos chopped a grounder directly at Brewers shortstop Joey Ortiz, who funneled it to first for the final out.
Milwaukee’s infielders had seen plenty of action on Friday, as that play marked the Phillies’ 18th ground-ball out of their 6-2 series-opening loss to the Brewers. With a Bryce Harper-sized hole in the lineup, the offense finished with just four total hits.
Harper missed his third consecutive game with a bruised elbow after getting hit by a Spencer Strider fastball on Tuesday.
» READ MORE: Bryce Harper still 'super sore,' not ready to play yet
“He’s a two-time MVP, so just having his name in the lineup, regardless if he does well or not, is gonna help everybody else in the lineup individually,” Castellanos said.
The one-time MVP in the opposite dugout, Christian Yelich, provided some firepower for Milwaukee with two homers. He crushed an elevated slider from Tanner Banks into the left-field seats for a three-run shot in the fifth inning and followed it up with a solo homer off Carlos Hernández in the ninth.
Two quick runs scored on Phillies starter Taijuan Walker in the first inning as he surrendered three hits, though only one was harder than 95 mph.
He settled in somewhat after that, striking out six. Walker tweaked his slider grip ahead of his previous start in Colorado and got five whiffs with the new-look pitch.
“I expanded a little bit to kind of see if they would chase it, something I’m still learning, to see where I should throw it,” Walker said. “When I get 0-2, 1-2, I feel like it’s going to be a pretty good weapon.”
Walker allowed the first two batters in the fifth to reach base on a walk to Brice Turang and a double from Jackson Chourio. That ended his night, before Banks allowed both inherited runners to score on Yelich’s first homer of the game.
Walker has made two starts since returning to the rotation with Aaron Nola on the injured list. Phillies manager Rob Thomson said he has not yet decided on whether Walker will make another start or go back to the bullpen.
“My goal is to help any way I can,” Walker said. “I’m pretty confident in my stuff. And with this new slider, I feel pretty confident in it.”
Meanwhile, Brewers opener DL Hall held the Phillies hitless for the first three innings, and Quinn Priester pitched the final six. They scratched across a run in the fourth when Trea Turner singled and Kyle Schwarber doubled to drive him home. Schwarber doubled again in the sixth, accounting for half of the Phillies’ four total hits, but he was stranded at second.
Nick Castellanos narrowed Milwaukee’s lead to 5-2 with a solo home run in the seventh as rain started to fall in Citizens Bank Park. That did not provide a spark to the rest of the team, however, as Priester retired the next nine Phillies. Brandon Marsh drew the team’s only walk.
“Part of that is approach, and part of that is pitching,” Thomson said. “We got to get back to using the entire field and try to get the ball up in the air.”
The Brewers ran all over the Phillies, stealing five total bases.
“That’s one of the things we talked about in the meeting today,” Thomson said. “They’re going to do a lot of things. They’re going to steal bases, they’re going to steal third, they’re going to bunt, hit and run, safety squeeze. They played small ball and a lot of it, and they tried to create chaos. You had to kill the chaos.”
Former Phillies first baseman Rhys Hoskins received a standing ovation before his first at-bat and finished 0-for-5 with three strikeouts.