Phillies power past Brewers
PHILADELPHIA -- The long ball ruled the day for a Philadelphia Phillies team that entered Sunday on a 2-14 slide and ranked second to last in the majors in home runs.
For the first time since Aug. 22, 2015, the Phillies hit back-to-back homers in the fifth inning courtesy of Jimmy Paredes and Cameron Rupp en route to an 8-1 win over the Milwaukee Brewers. This is just the third time this season the Phillies have scored eight or more runs with the last one coming on May 25 in an 8-5 win at Detroit.
With 13 hits to Milwaukee's 11, the Phillies now move to 18-3 when out-hitting the opposition. The 13 hits ties a season-high, a feat they accomplished three times. Odubel Herrera tied his career high with four hits.
Maikel Franco joined in on the home run parade with a solo shot in the third. Tommy Joseph blasted a home run, too, but watched it get called back after review due to fan interference. That turned into a one-run double and set up the power display from Paredes and Rupp.
That offensive explosion is something Aaron Nola isn't used to seeing. Pitching with an eight-run lead was the largest advantage Nola has had all season. He responded with six scoreless innings that saw him strike out a career-high nine. It's the third time this season he has fanned that many batters.
It took until the eighth inning with two outs before Milwaukee plated its first run when Ramon Flores singled in Domingo Santana.
Wily Peralta, who pitched six innings to get the win in his last outing against the Phillies in April, was yanked after 4 1/3 innings. He gave up six runs, seven hits and two walks.
In the fourth, Hernandez laced a two-out RBI triple that skipped past Brewers right fielder Domingo Santana.
One inning earlier in another two-out situation, Franco broke out of an 0-for-6 slump with a liner that sailed over the left-field wall to give the Phillies a 2-0 lead. It was his second homer of the series.
Milwaukee threatened in each of the first five innings with seven hits and nine total runners reaching safely.
Scooter Gennett and Hernan Perez both had two hits in their first two at-bats. Nola remained unfazed, fanning eight batters with at least one runner in scoring position through the first five innings. Milwaukee's first seven hits were all singles.
Herrera led off the Phillies' first with a base hit and proceeded to run all the way to third a few pitches later after a botched pickoff by Peralta. Galvis then hit a two-strike ground ball to knock in Herrera with the game's first run.
NOTES: RHP Tyler Thornburg set a Brewers reliever record with 23 straight batters retired, eclipsing the mark of 22 held by Dan Plesac (1987) and Derrick Turnbow (2005). ... The Brewers had an eight-game win streak in Philadelphia snapped with Friday's 6-3 loss. They have won 11 of their last 13 games against in Philadelphia entering Sunday. ... The Phillies have not won a series since May 16-18 against Miami. That series win marked four in a row. ... The two home runs hit by 1B Tommy Joseph and 2B Cesar Hernandez in the second inning on Saturday marked the first time the Phillies hit multiple homers in the same inning all season. ... Phillies 1B Ryan Howard sat for the fifth consecutive game on Sunday. He is 1-for- 15 (.067) in his last seven games.