Notes From The Phillies’ 4-3 Loss To Milwaukee

The Philadelphia Phillies lost their second straight game on Saturday night, falling to the Brewers 4-1. Their record drops to 31-32.

• Good, but not great start from Kyle Kendrick. Kendrick turned in the textbook “quality start”, going six innings and allowing three runs. The righthander allowed eight hits and one walk, striking out six.
• Kendrick was fine until he got to the sixth inning. He began the inning by allowing two runs on four consecutive hits. The inning could have been a lot worse, as Kendrick had runners at first and third with none out, but he was able to bear down and record three outs without allowing further damage.
• Domonic Brown was the offense tonight. Brown hit a solo home run in the second inning, and came through in the eighth inning with two on and two out, hitting a two-run double to make it a one-run ballgame.
• The team botched an opportunity to take the lead in the seventh inning. A pair of doubles from Kevin Frandsen and Jimmy Rollins put runners at second and third with none out, and Delmon Young, Domonic Brown, and John Mayberry all failed to bring any runs home.
• Michael Young batted in the lead-off spot for the third straight game, and went 3-4 with three singles.
• Ryan Howard was given the night off against the left-handed starter Tom Gorzelany, and Kevin Frandsen played first base. Howard made an appearance in the eighth inning as a pinch hitter where he grounded out to end the inning.
• Frandsen went 2-4 with a double. He was thrown out trying to score  in the sixth inning.
• Jimmy Rollins went 2-4 with a couple of singles. Rollins struck out looking with two runners on in the eighth inning.
• Delmon Young hit out of the cleanup spot tonight, and went 0-4, leaving six runners on base. In addition to failing to come through with two runners in scoring position in the seventh inning, Young struck out with two on in the eighth.
• John Mayberry got another start in centerfield, and went 0-3, leaving two runners on base.
• Mike Stutes allowed a run in the seventh inning. Stutes gave up a lead-off triple, and it took him nearly 30 pitches to get through the frame.

Final Thoughts

It was another frustrating loss for the Phillies.

The team had their chances to win this game. Failing to come through with two runners in scoring position and no outs in the seventh inning, coupled with Mike Stutes allowing the Brewers to tack on an insurance run proved to be the difference in the game tonight.

The Phillies got plenty of hits (10) but just couldn’t get enough timely hitting. The good news is that Domonic Brown continues to play at a high level, and isn’t showing any signs of cooling down.

The team will hope to split the series tomorrow with Jonathan Pettibone on the mound.