Philadelphia Phillies at Milwaukee Brewers

· Major League Baseball

Philadelphia Phillies

91-60, 39-34 Away

Final
5 - 1

Milwaukee Brewers

87-64, 43-30 Home

Harper and Wheeler lead Phillies to 5-1 victory over Brewers

Nick Castellanos added a solo shot and Trea Turner went 3 for 5 to help the Phillies move closer to wrapping up the NL East title while delaying the Brewers’ NL Central championship celebration.

The Brewers’ magic number dropped to one with the Chicago Cubs’ 4-3 loss to the Oakland Athletics. The Phillies lowered their magic number for clinching the NL East to four, though their magic number merely to reach the postseason is down to one.

Philadelphia's victory Tuesday gave the Phillies (91-60) the tiebreaker advantage over the Brewers (87-64) as they jockey for potential playoff seeding.

“We needed a win here for sure,” Phillies manager Rob Thomson said. “We'll try and win the series tomorrow, but just getting the tiebreaker over these guys I think is going to be huge coming down the stretch.”

Wheeler (16-6) allowed only four hits and one run in seven innings while striking out six and walking none. Wheeler, who lowered his ERA to 2.56, has worked at least six innings while giving up no more than two runs in each of his last nine starts.

“I just try to go six or seven every time, at least that,” Wheeler said. “If I go more, that's awesome. Try to do that, save our bullpen. It adds up over the season, where they get those innings saved in the bullpen. We need them for this stretch right now.”

Wheeler's 16 wins rank him second in the NL to Atlanta's Chris Sale, Wheeler's main competition for the Cy Young Award.

“He's the Cy Young, man," Harper said. “I said it out there. I don't think anyone in baseball is better than him at this point. I don't think anybody in the National League is, either. People down in Atlanta probably think the same thing about the guy throwing down there. I thought he got robbed of it three years ago (when Wheeler finished second to Corbin Burnes). I believe he earned it this year.”

The score was tied at 1-all until Harper sent a 1-1 pitch from Frankie Montas over the wall in left-center for his 29th homer of the season. Harper’s two-run shot also scored Kyle Schwarber, who led off with an infield single.

Montas (7-11) struck out 10 batters in 5 2/3 innings while allowing three runs, six hits and two walks.

Philadelphia extended the lead to 4-1 in the seventh as Schwarber hit a ball that went off a leg of pitcher Aaron Ashby and headed into shallow right field for an RBI single after Edmundo Sosa's leadoff double.

Turner added a two-out RBI single in the ninth.

“They’ve got two of the best power hitters in the game and a couple of other guys who are among the top hitters in the game, so you can’t give them anything," Brewers manager Pat Murphy said. "You have to keep the pressure on, and we couldn’t do that.”

Castellanos led off the second inning with a 430-foot drive over the wall in left-center for his 21st homer of the season. The Phillies put runners on first and second later in the second before Montas struck out Cal Stevenson to end the inning.

The Brewers tied it in the fourth, as William Contreras singled and scored on Garrett Mitchell’s triple to right center, but the Brewers stranded Mitchell at third.

TRAINER'S ROOM

The Phillies reinstated Sosa from the 10-day injured list and optioned IF Buddy Kennedy to Triple-A Lehigh Valley. In another move, the Phillies sent C Aramis Garcia outright to Lehigh Valley after he cleared waivers. Garcia had been designated for assigment Sunday.

Manager Rob Thomson said OF Austin Hays ran at full intensity Tuesday for the first time since going on the injured list with a kidney infection on Sept. 5. Thomson said the infection has gone away.

RHP Aaron Nola (12-8, 3.62 ERA) pitches for the Phillies and RHP Freddy Peralta (11-8, 3.75) starts for the Brewers when this three-game series concludes Wednesday night.

How can I watch Philadelphia Phillies vs. Milwaukee Brewers?

TV Channel: Phillies at Brewers 2022 MLB Baseball, is broadcasted on TBS.
Online streaming: Sign up for Fubo.

Matchup Prediction

Brewers: 47.6%

Phillies: 52.4%

*According to ESPN's Basketball Power Index

Scoring Summary

	9th Inning	Mitchell grounded out to second.
	9th Inning	Contreras struck out swinging.
	9th Inning	Chourio flied out to left.
	9th Inning	Hoffman relieved Strahm
	9th Inning	Harper lined out to center.
	9th Inning	Turner singled to center, Rojas scored.

Statistics

PHI		MIL
1	Games Played	1
1	Team Games Played	1
0	Hit By Pitch	0
8	Ground Balls	12
16	Strikeouts	9
5	Runs Batted In	1
0	Sacrifice Hit	0
10	Hits	5
2	Stolen Bases	1
3	Walks	0
0	Catcher Interference	0
5	Runs	1
0	Ground Into Double Play	1
0	Sacrifice Flies	0
36	At Bats	31
2	Home Runs	0
0	Grand Slam Home Runs	0
15	Runners Left On Base	9
0	Triples	1
1	Game Winning RBIs	0
0	Intentional Walks	0
1	Doubles	0
12	Fly Balls	10
1	Caught Stealing	0
153	Pitches	132
0	Games Started	0
1	Pinch At Bats	2
0	Pinch Hits	0
0.0	Player Rating	0.0
1	Is Qualified	1
1	Is Qualified In Steals	1
17	Total Bases	7
39	Plate Appearances	31
324.0	Projected Home Runs	0.0
3	Extra Base Hits	1
5.7	Runs Created	0.3
.278	Batting Average	.161
.000	Pinch Hit Average	.000
.472	Slugging Percentage	.226
.306	Secondary Average	.097
.333	On Base Percentage	.161
.806	OBP Pct + SLG Pct	.387
0.7	Ground To Fly Ball Ratio	1.2
5.7	Runs Created Per 27 Outs	0.3
40.0	Batter Rating	12.5
18.0	At Bats Per Home Run	0.0
0.67	Stolen Base Percentage	1.00
3.92	Pitches Per Plate Appearance	4.26
.194	Isolated Power	.065
0.19	Walk To Strikeout Ratio	0.00
.077	Walks Per Plate Appearance	.000
.028	Secondary Average Minus Batting Average	-.065
10.0	Runs Produced	2.0
1.0	Runs Ratio	1.0
0.5	Patience Ratio	0.2
0.4	Balls In Play Average	0.2
86.5	MLB Rating	64.5
0.0	Offensive Wins Above Replacement	0.0
0.0	Wins Above Replacement	0.0