MILWAUKEE – On this Labor Day, the Phillies and Milwaukee Brewers put in a ton of work on the baseball field during an exciting afternoon. The Phillies got an improbable 10-8 win over the team with the best record in baseball.
Brandon Marsh knocked in the winning run in the ninth inning with an RBI single to cap off a wild game that had injuries, questionable calls, 24 hits and a manager ejection. But Jhoan Duran provided stability when the Phillies needed it most as the Phillies improved to 80-58 on the season and kept their six-game lead over the Mets. Milwaukee fell to 85-54.
“I’m going to bed,” joked manager Rob Thomson after the draining win that saw the teams use a total of 14 pitchers. “They just kept fighting. That was a battle today.”
Taijuan Walker allowed three runs on 32 pitches in the first inning on Monday against the Brewers at American Family Field, just two starts after he delivered 38 pitches and allowed three runs in the first against Washington.
Walker’s fifth pitch of the game was launched into the leftfield seats by Milwaukee’s leadoff hitter Brice Turang. After a double by William Contreras and a walk to Christian Yelich, Blake Perkins lined a double past Bryce Harper down the rightfield line that scored two more to give the Brewers a 3-0 lead.
It was a particularly impressive game by the Phillies, who were playing an afternoon game in Milwaukee a day after being the Sunday night national game in Philadelphia. The team didn’t get into Milwaukee until about 1 a.m. The teams have off Tuesday before resuming the series on Wednesday.
“Huge, today was a big test for us, just getting in a little late and playing a good team over there,” said Marsh. “It was a huge game for us and taking one in this atmosphere, in this ballpark. Obviously, you want to win as many games as you possibly can. That was a big momentum shift for us just coming off that last game against Atlanta (a 3-1 loss).
“My bread and butter has always been left-center and left field. Always have to take what the pitcher and the other staff gives you. Couple of bad swings that turned out good. Very thankful for that. It’s a hard game, you take as many as you can.
Caleb Durbin led off the second inning with a home run to left for a 4-0 Brewers lead before Bryce Harper countered in the fourth. Harper belted his 23rd home run of the season right over the 400 foot sign in dead center field to cut the lead to 4-1 off Milwaukee starter Jacob Misiorowski.
After the Brewers upped the lead to 5-1 in the fourth with a pair of singles, a walk and a sacrifice fly off Walker, the Phillies chased Misiorowski in the fifth.
Max Kepler started the inning with a walk and advanced to second on a single by Edmundo Sosa. Bryce Stott forced Sosa at second on a fielder’s choice, before Trea Turner knocked in Kepler and Stott with a triple to the right field corner. That sent Misiorowski to the showers as the lead was cut to 5-3.
Tim Mayza made his Phillies debut in the fifth a successful one as he shut down the three Brewers he faced in order. The Allentown native hadn’t pitched in the majors since the middle of April due to a left lat strain. And the Phillies rewarded him with a big sixth inning.
J.T. Realmuto led off the inning and got plunked by Milwaukee reliever Nick Mears. Brandon Marsh followed with a single to put runners on first and third. Realmuto scored on a double by Harrison Bader before Kepler and Sosa each hit sacrifice flies for a 6-5 Phillies lead.
That was short-lived, however, as the Brewers scored the tying run without getting a base hit in the sixth. Milwaukee turned two walks, a wild pitch and a stolen base into a run when second baseman Bryson Stott bobbled a two-out grounder for an error that allowed the sixth run to score for the Brewers.
“The Stott error, my jaw dropped,” said Thomson. “Cause you don’t see that. He’s just so good. It was a battle. You’re down four, they you hit the (Harper) home run and you’re down four again. And then we just kept battling back and it was back and forth. It was almost like a playoff feel to it.”
Bader came through again in the eighth when he knocked in Brandon Marsh, who had singled to start the inning, with a double. The centerfielder had two doubles on the day, both resulting in RBIs. Marsh collected four hits, while Turner, Harper, Bader and Stott each had two of the Phillies’ 14 hits. After Bader’s go-ahead double in the eighth, Stott knocked him in with a double, silencing the sell-out Labor Day crowd. Only for a moment though as the Brewers scored two runs with two outs off David Robertson, – the key blow a two-run single by pinch-hitter Isaac Collins to shallow left-center to tie the game, 8-8.
“It’s really easy to get caught up in the emotion of trying to fit into a clubhouse,” said Bader. “Just relaxing and letting your game speak for itself to try to help the team win after nine innings eliminates all of that. I’m just kind of running with that feeling and trying to put up for my new club.”
It was a tough day for catcher J.T. Realmuto who was hit by a pitch on the arm and took a foul ball to the man section. He was also a part of a big play in the ninth when a questionable check swing went his way leading to a walk that kept the inning alive for Marsh’s heroics, before Bader knocked in the final insurance run. Brewers manager Pat Murphy argued so much that he got tossed. But all he missed was a big win by the Phillies.
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