Misiorowski started the game with seven straight triple-digit fastballs to Trea Turner before he threw his first off-speed pitch in a 3-2 count, a curveball which Turner hit to center fielder Blake Perkins for the first out. Up next was MVP candidate Kyle Schwarber, who struck out on three pitches, the second and third of which—a slider and a 101 mph fastball—he swung and missed at. Bryce Harper was the next batter, and he was able to knock a looping one-out single to shallow left, but J.T. Realmuto popped out to short to end the inning.
Brice Turang started the bottom of the first by showing that his fantastic August was not limited just to that month. Phillies starter Taijuan Walker left a 2-2 cutter in a hittable spot, and Turang knocked it out to deep right center, a 433-foot no-doubter. Jackson Chourio was next and he chopped one hard into the ground to third baseman Edmundo Sosa for the first out. William Contreras followed and hit a line drive on a hanging slider that deflected off the top of Sosa’s glove and down the left field line for a double.
Christian Yelich drew a five-pitch walk, setting up Jake Bauers with a big opportunity with two on and nobody out. Walker’s first two pitches were both on the outer edge, and while the umpire may have blown both calls, the 1-1 count after two pitches felt justified. Bauers drove a 2-1 cutter to the warning track in left and Brandon Marsh spun himself around and nearly blew it, but he did manage to make the catch for the second out. That brought Blake Perkins to the plate, and he worked to a full count before lining a two-out, two-strike double into the right field corner that drove in both Contreras and Yelich. Sal Frelick flew out in foul territory down the left field line to end the inning, but the Brewers handed Misiorowski an early 3-0 lead.
Marsh grounded out to shortstop on a 1-1 pitch for the first out of the second inning. Harrison Bader fell behind 0-2 and fouled off a few pitches to extend his at-bat and worked it back to 2-2, but he struck out on a foul tip for the second out. Max Kepler also struck out, and Miz had an easy, 1-2-3 second.
Walker’s miserable afternoon continued when Caleb Durbin led off the bottom of the second with a long homer halfway up the grandstand in left field. In his first at-bat after coming off the injured list, Joey Ortiz hit a ball 106 mph but it was a grounder right at Sosa at third which turned into the first out. In a full count, Turang lined a single up the middle for his second hit. Chourio, who was next, hit one pretty well into the right field gap but it held up just long enough for Bader to run it down for the second out. Walker got out of the inning with a strikeout of Contreras, but Durbin’s homer had made it 4-0 Brewers.
After a Sosa fly out started the third, Bryson Stott knocked a one-out single to left. But just one pitch later, Turner hit a chopper right at Turang which started a 4-6-3 double play, and Misiorowski had his third scoreless inning. In the bottom of the inning, Yelich popped out, and Bauers hit a shot into the hole in the left side of the infield but was robbed of a single—which would’ve been his first hit since July 6th—by a diving Turner. Perkins struck out looking, and Walker had his first clean inning of the day.
Miz struck out Schwarber a second time to start the fourth, this time on a 101 mph fastball foul tipped into Contreras’s mitt. But the next batter, Harper, went after the first pitch, another 101 mph fastball, and hit it just beyond the reach of Perkins in center. Perkins got a little turned around and still almost robbed the homer—one wonders if he might have gotten it had he gone straight to the right spot, but in any case, Harper’s shot made it 4-1. Realmuto was next and he benefitted from a couple of generous calls on close pitches but flew out to right on a 3-2 pitch for the second out. Marsh followed with a single to left, but Bader also flew out to right, and it was 4-1 headed to the bottom of the fourth.
Walker’s streak of consecutive clean innings ended at one when Frelick led off the bottom of the fourth by sneaking a single through the middle, just under Turner’s glove. Durbin flew out to right center for the first out, but the Brewers executed a perfect hit-and-run when Ortiz singled through the vacant hole created by a running Frelick. That put runners on the corners with one out for the top of the Brewer order, and things got worse for Philadelphia when Walker walked Turang, who’d reached three times in four innings. Chourio was the batter with the bases juiced, and had an opportunity to put the game out of reach early. Chourio didn’t quite bust the game open, but he did golf a 2-2 splitter into left for a sacrifice fly that also advanced Ortiz to third. Contreras went after the first pitch he got, a cutter off the plate, and flew out to right to end the inning. But Milwaukee had answered Philadelphia’s run in the top of the fourth with one of their own.
Misiorowski was working delightfully efficiently through four innings, but hit a wall in the fifth. Kepler walked to start the fifth, Miz’s first (and only) walk of the afternoon. Sosa followed with a single to left, which prompted a visit from pitching coach Chris Hook, who was eager to ensure that his young All-Star avoided the big inning that has been plaguing him over the past few weeks. Miz got the first out on a ground ball to second; Turang decided to try to start a 4-6-3 double play even though he had to move far to his left to make the play, and while the Brewers got the out at second, they were unable to turn two—Ortiz’s throw to first nearly got away from Bauers, who made an athletic play to catch it and prevent Kepler from scoring.
It didn’t matter, though, as the next batter, Turner, lined the first pitch into the right-field corner for a two-run triple. Murphy, eager to hold this lead and with a day off tomorrow, moved to his bullpen right then and summoned Aaron Ashby to face Schwarber with Turner on third. The two of them had a nice little battle that ended with Schwarber striking out looking at a 3-2 sinker, and Ashby got out of it when Harper grounded out to third, stranding Turner at third. The Phillies got two back, but Milwaukee maintained a 5-3 lead.
Walker was replaced by lefty Tim Mayza, who was just claimed on Sunday and was making his first appearance with the Phillies this season. Mayza did his job against lefties Yelich and Bauers, and the switch-hitter Perkins grounded out softly to second base for the third out.
Nick Mears replaced Ashby in the sixth, and things went poorly. He got ahead of Realmuto 0-2, but Realmuto hung tough and got hit by the sixth pitch in the at-bat. Marsh didn’t hit the ball hard but he looped another single to left on the first pitch he got, which put runners on first and third. Bader was the one who came through with the big hit, and also jumped on a first-pitch slider and drove a double over Chourio’s head in left. That scored Realmuto and put runners at second and third with no outs; Kepler scored Marsh and advanced Bader on a sac fly, giving Sosa a good opportunity to put the Phillies in the lead. Sosa did what he needed to and hit another sac fly to right, which gave the Phillies a 6-5 lead just two innings after trailing 5-1. Stott popped out to Durbin to end the inning, but the Brewers were now in need of a comeback.
Mayza gave way to righty Daniel Robert in the bottom of the sixth, and got Frelick on a groundout to start the inning. Durbin drew a one-out walk to give Milwaukee a baserunner, and Ortiz made solid contact but flew out down the right field line for the second out. Lefty José Alvarado came in to face Turang, and his first pitch sailed wide for a wild pitch that allowed Durbin to advance to second. Turang and Alvarado had a long sequence, where Turang fouled off a whole bunch of fairly hittable pitches but wound up with an 11-pitch walk. Durbin took third base on the walk, as well, so the Brewers had runners on the corners for Chourio, who has feasted on left-handed pitching this season.
Alvarado got the benefit of a close strike call on a 1-1 fastball that looked to be inside, and tried to go back to the same spot on 1-2 but missed too far inside. Chourio took another ball to fill the count, but hit a weak grounder to second base. But Stott, who is not a bad fielder, booted it, and Chourio, who was running hard, made it to first. Durbin, who’d stolen third on the walk to Turang, made it home to tie the game. Contreras flew out, but the fielding error had tied the game at six.
Jared Koenig was the pitcher tasked with keeping the Phillies off the board in the seventh. Turner led off with a ground ball that was knocked down by Ortiz but was never not going to be a hit, and his infield single gave the Phillies a speedy leadoff baserunner. Schwarber was retired for the fourth time on a routine fly ball to center, and Koenig had a beautiful three-pitch sequence for a strikeout of Harper. Realmuto still had a shot with two out, and a stolen base from Turner made it an opportunity with the go-ahead run in scoring position. Realmuto worked another long at-bat, but he struck out looking on a good 99 mph sinker for the third out, and the leadoff hit led to nothing.
Matt Strahm was the new Philadelphia pitcher, and Yelich made him throw nine pitches but struck out on a 3-2 slider. With the lefty Strahm on the mound, Andrew Vaughn came off the bench to hit for Bauers, but he struck out on a fastball off the plate. Perkins drew a two-out walk, and Frelick lined a first-pitch sinker into left for a single, and Milwaukee had a little two-out rally cooking. Durbin also went after the first pitch but got under it, and flew out on a towering fly ball to left.
In the tie game, Milwaukee went to Shelby Miller in the eighth. Marsh broke his bat but knocked a 1-1 splitter into left for his third single of the game, his second which had an exit velocity below 80 mph. Philadelphia immediately paid it off, as on the next pitch Bader hit an RBI double, his second of the game. Things went from bad to worse: after the fourth pitch to Kepler, Miller immediately indicated that something was wrong and was quickly taken out of the game.
After Miller exited, Rob Zastryzny was the new pitcher. Kepler’s inherited 2-2 count became a walk, but Zastryzny got a double play from Sosa that gave him a route out of the inning, Stott hit a two-out, run-scoring double that made it 8-6. Turner made the last out, but the Phillies had taken an 8-6 lead.
The ageless David Robertson came in for the eighth inning. He struck out Ortiz and Turang to start the inning, but in an at-bat that featured a delay because of a foul ball that struck Realmuto in a sensitive location, Chourio drew a two-out walk. Contreras knocked a base hit up the middle, and Yelich came to the plate representing the go-ahead run. Yelich got a 1-0 cutter right down the middle at 92 mph but fouled it off, and didn’t get another pitch to hit; he walked to load the bases.
Vaughn was the next batter but Pat Murphy opted for the matchup and instead sent another pinch-hitter, Isaac Collins, to the plate. He’s had plenty of clutch moments this season, and he came through with another. Collins hit a pretty hard ground ball that Turner should have had a play on, but it took a tricky hop off the mound and deflected off Turner’s glove and into left field. Chourio and Contreras scored, and the game was tied at eight. Perkins hit one to pretty deep center field with two outs, but it was caught on the fringe of the warning track and the inning was over. But it was a new ballgame headed to the ninth inning.
At this point, the author’s daughter puked on the couch, which seemed a pretty apt metaphor for what was about to happen. Abner Uribe came into the tie game and started by walking Schwarber. But Uribe recovered to strike out Harper, and thought he had a strikeout of Realmuto, who offered at a 3-2 slider. But the first base umpire declared that Realmuto hadn’t swung, a call which infuriated Murphy, who had some choice words before he got himself tossed from the game. There was a lengthy delay as the home plate umpire and Rickie Weeks got involved, too. (It was probably a closer call than Murphy would have you believe, but it absolutely should have been strike three.)
There should have been two outs and a very slow runner at first, but instead there was one out with runners on first and second and pinch-runner Garrett Stubbs at second. After the lengthy delay, Marsh picked up his fourth hit, a single to right, which scored Stubbs and got Realmuto to third. Bader then got his third hit of the afternoon, which scored Realmuto. Frelick threw out Marsh at third on the play for the second out, as a small silver lining, and Kepler flew out to center, but the damage was done, and the Brewers were down 10-8.
This time, they could not summon the rally that they’d put together in the eighth. Frelick, Durbin, and Ortiz went down in order against Jhoan Duran, and the game was over.
To a non-partisan viewer, this was a fun baseball game, a little sloppy maybe, between two National League behemoths. To Brewers fans, it was a miserable experience that ended unjustly, and to cap it off, the Cubs came back from their own five-run deficit to beat Atlanta 7-6 in extra innings. The Milwaukee bullpen, on the last day of the Brewers’ absurd 19-games-in-18-days stretch in the schedule, looked out of gas and may have lost Miller for the season. Misiorowski looked good for four innings but was once again unable to work through adversity when it hit in the fifth.
The Milwaukee offense showed some real moxie, and they got good showings from Turang (2-for-3, a homer, two walks), Contreras (2-for-5, a double, two runs scored), and Collins (another clutch, pinch-hit two-RBI single).
Tomorrow, they’ll have a day to forget about this one and their first off-day in two-and-a-half weeks. On Wednesday evening, they’ll be back at it with Jose Quintana on the hill against Aaron Nola.
Update: The news on Shelby Miller isn’t good.
