Phillies Pound Brewers Despite Ryan Braun Homers
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Veteran lefthander Jamie Moyer pitched into the seventh inning giving up 4 Milwaukee runs, all driven in by leftfielder Ryan Braun on 2 homers and an RBI single as Braun had a perfect 5 for 5 game. But Braun was only offense for Milwaukee as the Phils battered starter Manny Parra and 2 relievers enroute to a Phillies 11-4 pounding of the Brewers in Tuesday’s series opener.
Moyer started strong by striking out the 1st two Brewer hitters looking before the righthanded hitting Braun plastered Moyer’s 2nd pitch out for an opposite-field shot to rightfield. 3 pitches later, the inning turned shaky as Moyer hit 1st baseman Prince Fielder. But then he got the side out on a fielder’s choice grounder by shortstop J.J. Hardy.
But Parra fared far worse in the bottom of the first. The Phils, in their first rematch with Milwaukee since beating the Brewers by 3 games to 1 in the 2008 NL Division series, battered Parra right out of the starting blocks as 9 hitters faced him and 4 runs scored on 4 hits, 2 walks and a sacrifice fly before Parra finally got Moyer looking at 3rd srike to end the inning. The big blow was a 1 out, 2 run double by rightfielder Jayson Werth.
3rd baseman Pedro Feliz, who went 3 for 4 with 3 RBIs for the game, extended the Phils’ lead to 5-1 with 2 outs by slamming Parra’s 1-1 pitch for a rigfhtfield solo homer.
The score remained 5-1 until the fith inning when Braun narrowed the gap with his 2nd homer of the game, a 2 run shot. 5-3 Phillies.
But the Phils broke the game open in their fifth inning. After Werth grounded out, Jorge Julio, who took over for Parra to start the inning, walked leftfielder Raul Ibanez who stole 2nd base and took 3rd on a wild pitch as Julio walked Feliz. The stolen base was Ibanez’s 2nd of the season. AP sports writer Rob Maaddi recaps the inning for Yahoo sports:
Chris Coste’s RBI groundout made it 6-3. Then Jorge Julio walked Moyer with two outs to keep the inning going.
Jimmy Rollins followed with a single to load the bases and Shane Victorino singled in another run. R.J. Swindle entered and walked Chase Utley to force in Moyer. With Ryan Howard batting, Swindle threw a wild pitch that allowed two runners to score. Victorino came around from second when catcher Jason Kendall retrieved the ball and made an errant toss to the plate.
Lefthander and former Phillie Swindle finally retired Howard on a swinging 3rd strike to end the inning. Howard struck out 3 times in the game and was the only hitless starter in the Phils’ lineup. His 3 strikeouts give him 15 thus far this season in 12 games as the vintage 2009 Howard strikeout-watch begins despite his current above .300 BA.
Moyer breezed through the sixth inning, his best inning by far in the game, going clean on the Brewers on 9 pitches, 3 fly outs.
The Phils capped their scoring in the sixth as Werth led off with a double to leftfield and advanced to 3rd on Ibanez’s groundout and socred on Feliz’s infield single through the hole at 2nd base.
After Moyer gave up a walk and a single to start the seventh, reliever Chad Durbin replaced him and recorded the 1st out. Durbin was replaced by Clay Condrey who was touched for Braun’s 2 out infield single which plated the Brewers’ 4th and final run. The run was charged to Moyer.
Condrey held the Brewers scoreless in the eighth inning despite the first 2 Brewers reaching on singles.
Lefthander Jack Taschner took over to pitch the ninth inning and closed out the Brewers despite a leadoff walk and a 2 out single.
Moyer, who provided a quality outing aside from Braun’s 2 homers, recorded his 2nd win of the season while starter Parra was charged with his 3rd loss.
For all of the results of Monday’s and Tuesday’s games, click here and here.
In game 2 on Wednesday, Joe Blanton, who was scheduled to start on Tuesday before Monday’s rain postponement, will face Braden Looper. Blanton looks to rebound after being battered for 10 runs in 10 innings pitched in 2 outings thus far this season.
For all of Wednesday’s games, click here.
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