Ranger Suárez throws six scoreless innings and Harrison Bader saves the day as Phillies beat Brewers
Bader delivered with his bat and a perfectly timed jump to save a run, and the Phillies secured a series victory over the team with the best record in baseball.
MILWAUKEE — With the ball still in his glove, Harrison Bader leapt and bumped chests triumphantly with Brandon Marsh.
Bader had tracked Andruw Monasterio’s fly ball all the way to the wall in center field, where it had a chance of leaving the park to put the Milwaukee Brewers on the board in the ninth inning on Thursday. But Bader timed his jump perfectly. Watching from the mound, Jhoan Duran let out a roar of celebration.
“He’s incredible,” said Bryson Stott. “As long as it’s not way gone, I think he has a chance at it.”
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Bader had already delivered for the Phillies in the top of the inning, scoring an insurance run for a 2-0 win over Milwaukee. Backed by a strong performance from starter Ranger Suárez, the Phillies secured a series victory over the team with the best record in baseball.
“They kind of killed us earlier this year at our place,” said Trea Turner. “We know we’re a good team, and you want to stack up against the best.”
It was a pitcher’s duel early between Suárez and Brewers starter Freddy Peralta. While the Phillies offense couldn’t get on the board against the Milwaukee right-hander — who extended his scoreless streak to 29 consecutive innings — they drove up his pitch count to chase him from the game with 92 pitches after the fifth.
Alec Bohm and Turner combined to finally break the stalemate against the Brewers bullpen. In the seventh inning, Bohm sent a slider from reliever Tobias Myers into the right-field corner. Isaac Collins misplayed it, allowing Bohm enough time to sail into third base standing up with a triple.
Turner fouled off three straight pitches before serving a bloop single into shallow left field, bringing Bohm home for a 1-0 lead. The razor-thin margin was just enough thanks to strong defense and a shutdown performance from the Phillies’ pitching staff.
“Getting that lead and holding on to it was big, because you’ve got to win games like that,” Turner said. “You can’t always just win 8-0, or by slugging out. Sometimes you’ve got to play small ball and come up big.”
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Suárez escaped several jams to turn in six scoreless innings. The Brewers put two runners on in the fourth and Danny Jansen attempted to lay down a bunt, but Bryce Harper fielded it perfectly and caught the lead runner at third.
“The defense today was just awesome and terrific behind me,” Suárez said through a team interpreter. “It’s just games like this, close games, I think the defense had a lot to do with it and helped us get the win.”
Trouble seemed to be brewing again for Suárez in the sixth inning, when he allowed a walk and a double to put two runners in scoring position with zero outs.
But then Suárez induced a ground ball to Stott, who looked William Contreras back to third base as he made the throw for the out at first. A fly ball to Bader in center wasn’t deep enough for Contreras to tag up, before another ground ball out stranded both runners.
“I don’t think his heartbeat goes up, he just calms down and just keeps pitching,” said manager Rob Thomson. “And that’s what you’ve got to do.”
Suárez’s curveball was effective, inducing weak contact that generated four whiffs. He struck out four.
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David Robertson followed up Suárez’s performance with a scoreless seventh. The tying run advanced to third base against Matt Strahm in the eighth inning when J.T. Realmuto overthrew second base attempting to catch Jake Bauers advancing on a passed ball, but Strahm induced a fly out to leave him there.
Bader led off the ninth inning with a double, advanced to third base on a groundout from Max Kepler, and scored on an RBI double from Stott. His catch in the bottom of the inning helped Duran post a clean frame for his 26th save of the year.
“I think that’s our attitude, just keep pushing, keep competing,” Turner said. “Good things will happen.”