Wasted heroics yet again: Brewers 7, Phillies 5

Well that fell apart didn’t it?

What looked like another heroic moment by a hitter against one of the best relievers in the game turns into a tough loss that really shouldn’t be. Leaving this game, one might be worried that Alec Bohm made the error, but there might be another larger worry creeping up.

It started out great!

And you want to move Kyle Schwarber out of the leadoff spot...

Once that ball settled into the seats, the game itself settled into a pitcher’s duel. Both Zack Wheeler and Freddy Peralta were very good tonight, striking out the opposing lineup with reckless abandon all evening long. The biggest difference between the two was Wheeler making one bad pitch in the fourth inning that allowed Willy Adames to launch a ball into center field.

After that, the Brewers were stymied by Wheeler, but on the flip side, the offense just could not solve the riddle that was Peralta. Luckily for them, Peralta left after six innings, but Hoby Milner shut them down in the seventh, leaving Joel Payamps to get three outs in the eighth.

And oh that eighth inning.

Bohm walked to start it off, J.T. Realmuto singled him to second, bringing Brandon Marsh up. Marsh had good at bats the previous two times he was up, so in this one, he was rewarded by hitting a ball into the left-center gap, scoring Bohm and making it a one run game. Jake Cave would follow with two very poor bunt attempts, followed by a feeble swing, to get the first out. Kyle Schwarber popped up for the second out, but Craig Counsell had seen enough and went to his closer, Devin Williams, to face Trea Turner. It went in the Phillies favor.

Now, you may recall that in two recent games, the Phillies hit highly emotional home runs to either tie the game (Giants) or to take the lead (Angels), only to see the bullpen blow the game, so you’d be forgiven if you felt a little nervous about how the last two innings might go. Jose Alvarado was brought in, who has usually been reliable. Tonight was not his night though. A single to the leadoff hitter was followed by a nifty play from Turner to get the force at second for the first out. A single to the next hitter and a walk to Carlos Santana loaded the bases, which called for a mound visit. Alvarado responded by walking the pinch hitting Tyrone Taylor to force in a run to make it a one run game and force Rob Thomson to go to the mound to reliever Alvarado. Jeff Hoffman came in and got Adames swinging for the second out before the bottom dropped out.

Needing just a groundball to get out of the inning, Hoffman forced one to Bohm, who just....missed it.

That is crushing.

The ninth was kind of a foregone conclusion, Williams getting the Phillies 1-2-3, ending the game that the Phillies could have used.

Right now, the concern has to be Alvarado. He just doesn’t look right and he needs to find it. As we saw in 2022, the postseason demands the bullpen be solid, yet right now there is some oil leaking out of this machine. Their ending trio of Alvarado, Seranthony Dominguez and Craig Kimbrel are all a bit out of whack, making games like this ulcer-inducing. It’s likely they’ll figure it out, but the Phillies could use them right now.

They’ll be back at it tomorrow night.