It looked like a mismatch going in: Cliff Lee, reigning Cy Young Award winner, versus Manny Parra, owner of an Eaton-esque 6.42 ERA. And it was: Lee got hit early, often, and hard by the Brewers, while Parra toyed with disinterested-seeming Phillies hitters en route to an easy win.
Milwaukee scored four first-inning runs, all with two outs, as Prince Fielder singled in Felipe Lopez, Casey McGehee blooped a double to right field, and Mike Cameron blasted a three-run homer to put the home club ahead 4-0. Parra was perfect once through the Phils' lineup, but gave back half the lead in the fourth on an error, a walk, and a hard-hit ball from Ryan Howard that was initially ruled an error on Fielder but later changed to a hit. Fielder got them back plus one in the fifth, however, taking Lee over the wall with two men on for his 43rd home run of the season; his four RBI on the night give him 136--one more than Howard, who picked up a third later in the game.
The Brewers stretched their lead to 8-2 with a run off Brad Lidge in the 7th. The Phils briefly threatened to make a game of it with two runs in the 8th and runners at the corners with none out in the 9th, but Milwaukee closer Trevor Hoffman came on to get pop-ups from Matt Stairs and Jimmy Rollins and a game-ending groundout from Shane Victorino.
With the Braves winning in Washington, the Phillies' magic number remains at four.