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Phillies 6, Brewers 4: Colton Gordon's magic runs out in eighth inning
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- Phillies 6, Brewers 4: Colton Gordon's magic runs out in eighth inning
PHILADELPHIA – How much house money is Pat Murphy playing with in the final week of the regular season?
With two runners on base and two outs in a tie game in the bottom of the eighth coming off an off-day, Murphy left all his typical late-game bullpen options seated on the bench in their perch in right-center field and let Colton Gordon roll.
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The left-hander, at the end of what had been a stunning, startling performance for 4 ⅔ innings to that juncture, ultimately cratered.
Bryson Stott poked a go-ahead two-run single to center, Brandon Marsh followed with a ringing double to bring him home and the Milwaukee Brewers ultimately lost, 6-4, to the Philadelphia Phillies on Sept. 22 at Citizens Bank Park in what was unofficially a "Try Some Things" game from the visitors, who still clinched a first-round bye with the Atlanta Braves ' concurrent loss.
Dustin May , pitching on three days' rest after a short outing in Baltimore , worked two innings, allowing a two-run homer to Marsh in what was simply an effort to get back on the mound and work through his struggles.
More: How would the MLB playoffs look for Brewers if the season ended today?
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Brewers fight back against Wheeler
The sixth inning had all the ingredients of a staple Brewers inning.
Phillies starter Zack Wheeler had 10 strikeouts and faced just two over the minimum through five frames of complete dominance. Then the script flipped.
David Hamilton , after missing a foul pop up the prior half-inning that could have cost the Brewers but didn't, led off with a single and stole second. Jackson Chourio walked and a double steal put two in scoring position with two outs for William Contreras .
As he often does in those situations, Contreras swung at the first pitch and poked it over the head of a leaping Trea Turner to knot the game at 3-3. Jake Bauers singled one batter later to chase Wheeler from the game.
Brewers third baseman David Hamilton (6) steals second bas ahead of tag by Phillies second baseman Luis Arraez during the sixth inning on Tuesday, Sept. 22 at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia.
Colton Gordon keeps the Brewers in it...until he doesn't
Making his Brewers debut, Gordon exceeded all expectations with four scoreless innings out of the pen to begin his outing, bridging the game all the way from the fourth until close.
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Philadelphia's lone base runner through three innings against the southpaw came on a Cooper Pratt error in the fifth, but Gordon erased him just as he did quite often to the Phillies: with weak contact.
Gordon had an 11.97 ERA in four appearances with the Astros earlier this year and pitched to a pedestrian 4.67 ERA with Class AAA Nashville after being acquired by the Brewers in July.
Gordon deleted a leadoff walk by inducing a double play off the bat of pinch hitter Derek Hill in the seventh, then got Kyle Schwarber to roll over to first.
Looking for any excuse to give the rest of the bullpen some rest, Murphy rolled Gordon back out for a fifth inning.
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Like most good things, though, it had to end.
Gordon was one batter away from five scoreless, hitless innings when he gave up three straight singles, the third of which was a two-strike Stott flare to center. Garrett Mitchell chose to throw to third rather than try and get Luis Arraez at home and hit Alec Bohm 's foot as he ran the basepath, allowing him to motor home as the ball ricocheted away.
Murphy argued that Bohm, who looked back to see where the ball was on the throw, intentionally deflected Mitchell's throw, but to no avail.
Marsh then lasered a double off the wall on the very next pitch to make it 6-3.
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Kyle Harrison gets another chance
The Brewers were just sending out pitchers trying to work through their struggles in the early innings.
Kyle Harrison followed May out of the bullpen for the third inning, but after a leadoff strikeout of Schwarber on a rare sinker, it went the way of all his recent outings. Three of the next four Phillies reached base via a base hit, with Bohm punching a 105.3 mph double to score Trea Turner.
Brandon Marsh brings a rough ending to short start
May's outing was effectively a glorified bullpen as he only went two innings on three days' rest. Following a scoreless first with one walk, the second inning looked all too familiar with a walk preceding more loud contact.
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May tried to sneak a two-strike sinker past Brandon Marsh and the Phillies center fielder didn't miss it, walloping it 390 feet to right for a two-run blast.
The Brewers are intent on figuring it out with May and he will likely make one more regular start before the playoffs begin.
Three more Ks for Wheeler in the second
Contreras, Bauers and Christian Yelich stood as much of a chance against Wheeler as their teammates did the inning prior.
Wheeler got ahead of all three on his way to striking them out to go six-for-six to open the game on Ks. Through two innings, Wheeler had seven whiffs, including four on the four-seamer and two on two swings against the splitter.
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Wheeler then set a new franchise record with a seventh straight strikeout to open the game when he got Luis Lara to flail over a curveball. Cooper Pratt finally brought an end to it with a grounder to third for the second out of the third.
Zack Wheeler strikes out the side in the first inning
Mitchell, Chourio and Turang ? Mincemeat.
Wheeler laid waste to the top of the Brewers order in the first inning, striking out the side on only 12 pitches. The Phillies right-hander got Mitchell to chase a splitter out of the zone, froze Chourio with a comeback sinker and put Turang away with a four-seamer.
What is the Brewers record?
98-59.
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Brewers schedule, probable starting pitchers
Brewers at Phillies, Sept. 23, 5:40 p.m.:Milwaukee RHP Logan Henderson (10-3, 2.51) vs. Philadelphia RHP Aaron Nola (7-10, 4.49). TV – Brewers.TV. Radio – AM-620 WTMJ.
Brewers at Phillies, Sept. 24, 5:05 p.m.:Milwaukee TBA vs. Philadelphia TBA. TV – Brewers.TV. Radio – AM-620 WTMJ.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Phillies 6, Brewers 4: Colton Gordon's magic runs out in eighth inning
