Trouble brewin’? Phillies 5, Brewers 7

Remember that last homestand, though?

It feels like the vibes of yesterweek that may have crested their highest peak of positivity in this streaky, rollercoaster season have come careening back to earth in short order.

The Phillies (74-61) dropped game two of their three game series hosted by the Milwaukee Brewers (76-59) on Saturday night for their third consecutive, bitterly contested, hard-to-swallow loss.

It started out safe enough. Another day, another leadoff homer for Kyle Schwarber.

It was his 39th home run of the season and 9th leadoff home run, tying Jimmy Rollins (2007) for most in a season by Phillie. He has 27 games left to break the tie.

JT Realmuto, one of the few everyday players not to enjoy a power surge in the month of August and mired in a 14-game home run drought, tagged Brewers’ starter, Colin Rea with a one-out solo shot in the top of the second for his 16th home run of the season and 150th of his career, tying him with Mike Lieberthal at 44th on the all-time list of home runs by a catcher.

But as has been the theme over the last three games, the two-run lead wouldn’t withstand the next half inning. The Brewers would string together four hits, including two doubles, for a three-run rally off Aaron Nola.

Aside from the two solo home runs, Rea mowed through the Phillies’ lineup through the early innings, collecting six strikeouts through the first four frames.

Nola settled down with a nine-pitch, 1-2-3 third inning and got out of a one-out, two-on jam in the fourth inning with a big double play.

With one out and no one on in the fifth inning, the Brewers pulled Rea at 66 pitches in favor of reliever, Andrew Chafin. Rea had been called back to the big league club after spending the month of August at AAA Nashville.

The inability to minimize damage and avoid the big inning continued to doom Nola in the fifth inning. After inducing a leadoff groundout by Christian Yelich, Nola surrendered a double to William Contreras before ex-Phillie, Carlos Santana worked the count full and won the battle with a long two-run bomb.

Nola would get the second out on a pop out by Brewers’ rookie phenom, Sal Frelick, before giving away a four-pitch walk to Willy Adames and another double, this time to Mark Canha. Andrew Bellatti would finish the inning for Nola, not before allowing a single to Brice Turang to score Canha and give Milwaukee a five-run lead. All seven Brewers’ runs off Nola were earned, on the power of three walks and eight hits, four of which were for extra bases.

With one out in the sixth inning, Trea Turner made a dent in the damage with a solo shot of his own off Brewers’ reliever, Trevor Megill, his fifth home run in as many games and 21st of the season.

A would-be rally in the seventh inning fell short after a double by Alec Bohm and a walk by Brandon Marsh put two men on, only to have the other three batters strike out swinging, all at the hands of Megill who recorded all of his 1.2 IP on the punch out.

The Brewers’ sent out another ex-Phillie, Hoby Milner to pitch the eighth and the Phillies got a run back after Schwarber walked, Turner reached on a fielder’s choice and Bryce Harper chopped a ball to the right side of the infield that Milner air-mailed over first base, getting both runners in scoring position for a Nick Castellanos’ sac fly. Harper advanced to third but was stranded after a Bryson Stott ground out to second.

After Dylan Covey kept the score from moving in the bottom of the eighth, Brewers’ closer, Devin Williams came on for his second appearance in a row after last night giving up the go-ahead home run to Turner to blow a save and then record a win after the Brewers’ comeback.

Williams would get Bohm to line out before allowing a hit to Realmuto and a walk to Marsh. After a ground out by Jake Cave advanced the runners, Schwarber managed a single on a hard hit grounder that scored Realmuto to bring Turner up to the plate as the go-ahead run. Turner battled through a seven-pitch full count only to strike out swinging to end it. It was the Phillies’ 13th strikeout of the game and 11th swinging.

Turner extended his hit streak to 13 games with a first inning single. He would swipe second and third for his 24th and 25th stolen bases on the season, the first of which could be a record breaker if Trea is careful the rest of the way.

Ranger Suarez faces Wade Miley in a battle of lefties tomorrow afternoon as the Phillies will hope to salvage their trip to Milwaukee and avoid the sweep.