PHILADELPHIA — Kyle Schwarber slammed his bat to the dirt. He spiked his helmet. He turned to home-plate umpire Angel Hernandez and gestured with both arms in all directions.
It was eight innings of pent-up frustration boiling over.
The Phillies fought for every inch of home plate, dueling with Hernandez over a strike zone that ranged from inconsistent to incomprehensible. And when Hernandez called Schwarber out on strikes in the ninth inning, well, the mild-mannered Schwarber went berserk.
One batter later, Alec Bohm flied out to the warning track to end a nationally televised 1-0 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers on Sunday night. The Phillies lost the series and have dropped nine of their last 12 games. They are 6-10.
The Brewers scored their lone run in the ninth inning. Jace Peterson dropped a flair into center field between onrushing Odubel Herrera and backpedaling Johan Camargo. Peterson went to third on a single by Andrew McCutchen and scored on Christian Yelich’s sacrifice fly against Phillies closer Corey Knebel.
Aaron Nola was brilliant. He gave up one hit and struck out nine over seven innings in what qualified as his best start of the season.
Nola dazzles
Before the game, manager Joe Girardi said he figured Nola — after four Grapefruit League starts and three in the regular season — was up to speed after the three-week spring training.
And Nola certainly looked to be in midseason form.
Nola unleashed the full array of his repertoire on the Brewers. Not only did he throw five pitches, but he leaned on his changeup and curveball almost equally and located his fastball. He threw a first-pitch strike to 18 of 24 batters.
Hit or (lots of) miss
At a time when balls in play are fewer and farther between, the ESPN audience was treated to 21 strikeouts (13 by the Phillies, eight by the Brewers) among 43 batters through six innings.
The lack of offense may have been aided by Hernandez’s strike zone. His most egregious call came in the fifth inning on a first-pitch slider that was way inside. Jean Segura popped up a high slider two pitches later before Rhys Hoskins struck out to leave the bases loaded.
Pitchers are often ahead of hitters early in the season. But many within the game wondered if that trend would reverse this year because of the shortened spring training. Instead, entering play Sunday, National League teams were slashing .233/.313/.369 while American League clubs were at .229/.301/.364.
Up next
The homestand will continue at 6:45 pm. Monday with the opener of a four-game series against the Rockies. In a rematch from last Tuesday night in Colorado, Kyle Gibson (1-1, 3.57 ERA) will face Rockies left-hander Kyle Freeland (0-2, 7.71).
