Brewers beat Phils, end skid

by Kavin Caruso
(Georgia)

Milwaukee Brewers beat the Philadelphia Phillies 3-2 yesterday afternoon.

The Brewers started the week at 10.5 games ahead of St. Louis, then they lost 5 in a row. The lead dropped to 6 games. St. Louis Cardinals took 2 out of 3 against Milwaukee in St. Louis, then the Brewers returned home to face Philadelphia. Things didn't go smoothly. The Brewers loss to the Phillies on Thursday 7-2. On Friday the Phillies beat the Brewers 5-3, then Saturday Phils won 3-2.

Milwaukee who haven't won a division title since 1982, started out strong but pitching and hitting went sour in one week. St. Louis who is second in the NL Wild Card is also chasing the Atlanta Braves.

In yesterday's game, Yovani Gallardo struck out 12 Phillies batters, he pitched a gem. He gave up 2 runs, 3 hits, 1 walk, and pitched 7 innings of good baseball. The two runs the Phillies got were solo home runs by Shane Victorino and Ryan Howard in the 6th inning. He is now 16-10 on the season.
The Brewers scored first in the 2nd inning when Rickie Weeks who have been on the DL since late July scored a run on a Jonathan Lucroy's ground out. Rickie Weeks started the inning with a walk, then Taylor Green struck out. Yuniesky Bettancourt hit a single, Weeks moved to second, then when Jonathan Lucroy came to bat, Phillies starter Vance Worley threw a wild pitch to move Weeks to third and Bettancourt to second.

After the two home runs by the Phils in the 6th inning, the Brewers were down 2-1, they had to come back. The big scoring drives by the Brewers happened in the 7th inning. With 1 out, Corey Hart doubled, then Nyjer Morgan came to bat and he hit a rbi double to tie the game! Ryan Braun came to bat, he hit a rbi single to take the lead! The Brewers now lead 3-2. Francisco Rodriquez pitched a scoreless 8th, then in the 9th, John Axford pitched a scoreless inning to record his 42nd save of the season. The Phillies had won 14 straight Vance Worley's starts dating back to May 29. It was an improbable winning streak for Vance Worley that had ended. He is now 11-2.

With that win,the Brewers finally got their magic number down to 10. St. Louis swept Atlanta so they couldn't reduce the number to 9.The Brewers play the Colorado Rockies in 2 game series tomorrow.