By the skin of their teeth: Phillies 10, Brewers 9

It got a little scary at the end, but the Phillies managed to hang on and win 10-9 over the Brewers. Let’s hit some highlights.

Aaron Nola wasn’t his best

Even a starter as amazing as Aaron Nola has the right to a crappy start every now and then. He didn’t last five innings, coming out with one out in the fifth. He allowed four runs on seven hits and four walks, so it was a very un-Nola outing. He coughed up two different two run leads, and just didn’t look sharp. But today, when Aaron Nola needed them, the offense was there to pick him up.

Welcome back, the offense

The Phillies really, really like to hit home runs in Miller Park. It started right away, too. After Cesar Hernandez led off the game with a single, Rhys Hoskins hit another dinger to make it 2-0 without a single out or Brewer coming to bat.

In the fourth, Maikel Franco hit an absolutely enormous two-run home run. It was majestic.

I mean sweet lord almighty. Franco also went 2-for-3, and had a fantastic day all around. And then Odubel Herrera, who already had a two hits on the day, got in on the fun. He absolutely clobbered a baseball into next week.

That home run made me pregnant.

Uh, a Brewers reliever threw up on the mound. Twice.

So this is something I’ve never seen before. Actually, I don’t think anyone had ever seen it before. Adrian Houser, who came in to pitch the eighth inning, threw up on the mound. He did it before the inning started (if memory serves), and the grounds crew had to come out and clean it off. (Or just dump a bunch of water on it.) And then after he got an out, he yakked again! Neither time did Houser come out of the game, and neither one counted as a mound visit. In fact, both times home plate umpire Laz Diaz waved off to signify no mound visit, he was on the verge of laughing hysterically.

I have no comment about this, really. Maybe he drank or ate something in the bullpen before he warmed up, and once he got out there, his stomach just lurched. I don’t think it meant he was tremendously ill or anything, and while it seems negligent that Craig Counsell left him in, we have no idea what the situation actually was. No matter what you may think about it, the whole thing was just weird.

Hector Neris is useless

In the ninth inning, with a five run lead, Hector Neris entered the game for another garbage time outing. Or so we thought. Neris threw one pitch to Jesus Aguilar, and Aguilar sent it to the seats. The score was 10-6. That was followed by a single and a double. Neris got two outs, but when Eric Thames came up, you knew it had to happen. He hammered a three-run homer, making the score 10-9. Neris had almost completely wasted a five-run lead.

These stats are disgusting.

Oh god, I shudder with stomach heaves every time I read it. It has to stop.

Odubel Herrera saved the day

After Neris departed the game, Jake Thompson came in. He threw one pitch, and Christian Yelich took it for a ride. I thought it was a homer off the bat. But Odubel Herrera didn’t think so.

Odubel saved the game, but he gave us something even better: back-to-back series wins for the first time since April 15.

Happy Father’s Day!