Philadelphia 6, Milwaukee 1
When: 7:05 PM ET, Friday, July 21, 2017
Where: Citizens Bank Park, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Temperature:
91°
Umpires:
Home -
Adrian Johnson, 1B -
Eric Cooper, 2B -
Gary Cederstrom, 3B -
Gabe Morales
Attendance:
17550
By The Sports Xchange
PHILADELPHIA -- Philadelphia Phillies starter Aaron Nola continued his recent success by pitching seven innings of one-run ball and carrying the Phillies to a 6-1 victory over Milwaukee on Friday night, sending the Brewers to their sixth straight loss.
Nola's ERA in July is just 1.61, allowing two earned runs or fewer in every start this month. His manager couldn't be happier with his progression.
"Nola was outstanding," Phillies manager Pete Mackanin said. "He's been working on that changeup all year and it's really one of his better pitches. He used all of his pitches, he spotted his fastball in and out and changed speeds extremely well."
Nola (7-6) struck out nine and, at one point, fanned eight of nine batters, something he was unaware of.
"I didn't even know," Nola said after the win. "I guess I felt pretty good. I was just trying to get early outs and it was kind of hot at the beginning of the game and I just wanted to get in and out."
The Brewers have scored just 12 runs in their season-long six-game losing streak, and manager Craig Counsell knows that's just not going to cut it.
"(Nola) was good tonight, I know that," Counsell said. "He's tough on our right-handers for sure, so I think that was the story tonight, certainly. We're going to have tough matchups and you have to produce runs against those tough matchups. You're not going to win games scoring one run, not very often."
With Nola clinging to a one-run lead in the bottom of the sixth inning, the Phillies went to work against the Brewers' bullpen. In relief of starter Matt Garza (4-5), right-hander Carlos Torres gave up four earned runs on two walks and four hits, including Tommy Joseph's two-run double off the center-field fence to give the Phillies a 6-1 advantage.
The Phillies got on the board early against Garza when Cesar Hernandez drew a leadoff walk and Freddy Galvis smashed a two-run homer, his 11th of the season, over the right-field wall to open the scoring in the bottom of the first inning.
The Brewers were able to limit the early damage and get out of the inning after Nick Williams was called out on a bang-bang play at first base and Hernan Perez made a sliding catch in left field to rob Maikel Franco of a base hit.
Brett Phillips answered for the Brewers in the top of the second with a two-out solo shot, his second home run of the year, on the first pitch he saw from Nola to cut the deficit in half.
Philadelphia left the bases loaded in the bottom of the second after Hernandez and Galvis grounded out and struck out, respectively.
Milwaukee threatened in the top of the sixth inning with runners on first and second, but Nola got Travis Shaw to ground out to first to end the inning.
"Tonight was a night where we didn't get much going," Counsell said. "A couple two-out rallies, but first inning might've been out best shot and we didn't produce much, we didn't put them under pressure that often."
All-Star setup man Pat Neshek relieved Nola in the eighth and pitched his 22nd scoreless inning at home in as many attempts this. Right-hander Hector Neris finished up in the ninth.
Howie Kendrick returned from the disabled list for the Phillies and reached base on a pinch-hit single in the bottom of the eighth.
In the second game of the series, Philadelphia will send right-hander Jeremy Hellickson (6-5, 4.44 ERA) to the mound to face Milwaukee's lefty Brent Suter (1-1, 3.09) as the Brewers look to snap the season-worst losing streak.
NOTES: The Phillies activated OF Howie Kendrick from the disabled list and optioned 1B Brock Stassi to Triple-A Lehigh Valley. ... Phillies OF Nick Williams leads National League rookies in batting average (.316) since his big league call-up on June 30. ... Brewers 3B Travis Shaw has gone 64 consecutive games without an error at third base, the second longest streak in franchise history, trailing only Don Money's 88-game streak. ... Philadelphia will send RHP Jeremy Hellickson (6-5, 4.44 ERA) to the mound to face Milwaukee's LHP Brent Suter (1-1, 3.09) on Saturday.
Top Game Performances
Starting Pitchers
| Milwaukee |
|
Philadelphia |
|
Matt Garza
|
Player |
Aaron Nola
|
|
Loss |
W/L |
Win |
|
5.0 |
IP |
7.0 |
|
4 |
Strikeouts |
9 |
|
3 |
Hits |
5 |
|
3.60 |
ERA |
1.29 |
Team Stats Summary
| Team |
Hits |
HR |
TB |
Avg |
LOB |
K |
RBI |
BB |
SB |
Errors |
| Milwaukee
|
6 |
1 |
10 |
.194 |
10 |
12 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
| Philadelphia
|
8 |
1 |
13 |
.267 |
15 |
8 |
6 |
5 |
0 |
0 |
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