PHILADELPHIA — The Milwaukee Brewers nearly managed two historic feats against the Phillies in their 4-0 victory Thursday at Citizens Bank Park. Starter Corbin Burnes did not allow a hit through his first 3 1/3 innings and Christian Yelich finished his day just one triple short of the cycle. It wasn’t what you want to see from a team in playoff contention.
The Phillies’ lineup gave starter Taijuan Walker little room for error. They managed just two hits, two walks, no runs, and went 0 for 3 with runners in scoring position. They struck out 13 times. Of the 16 times they made contact, only five balls were hit 95 mph or harder. For context, the Brewers made hard contact nine times.
Burnes pitched through the eighth inning, allowing two hits and striking out 10. Of the 100 pitches he threw, 55 were cutters. Despite having a good idea of what was coming, the Phillies were still stumped. It was their seventh shutout loss of the season, and their first shutout loss since June 10.
To make matters worse, Walker didn’t have his best outing on Thursday. After pitching back-to-back scoreless innings to start things off, he allowed a double, a walk and a three-run home run to Yelich in the third. Walker settled in after that, tossing a 1-2-3 inning in the fourth, a one-hit inning in the fifth, and a one-walk inning in the sixth. He allowed a leadoff single in the seventh that eventually scored a run after Andrew Vasquez came in to relieve Walker.
In all, Walker allowed six hits, four runs, all of which were earned, and two walks with six strikeouts over six innings. The bullpen — Vasquez and Dylan Covey — allowed just one walk and two hits over the next three innings, but with the way the Phillies were hitting on Thursday, that didn’t matter much.
It seemed like the Phillies might be able to get something going in the ninth after Trea Turner drew a leadoff walk. But Brewers reliever Abner Uribe struck out their next three batters — Nick Castellanos, Bryce Harper, and Alec Bohm to get the series win for the Brewers. The Phillies are now 52-44.
