The Phillies had an opportunity to clinch a postseason berth on Wednesday. Despite Aaron Nola having a heck of a start, they fell short after they struck out 16 times on offense and lost the game in the bottom of the ninth.
MILWAUKEE — The Phillies could have checked goal numero uno off their list Wednesday night with a win in Milwaukee but fell short in a nailbiter, losing 2-1 to end a potential playoff series preview against the Brewers.
The Phils would have officially clinched a playoff berth if they won the series finale but the Magic Number remains one. The Phillies will clinch with their next win or the next loss by the Mets or Braves.
Their next series is against the Mets – four games Thursday through Sunday at Citi Field — giving the Phils a chance to also clinch their first NL East title since 2011 this weekend.
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The Phillies scored in the second, the Brewers responded in the fifth with a Rhys Hoskins solo home run and walked off in the ninth when Jake Bauers singled off Carlos Estevez after a Jackson Chourio leadoff triple.
Aaron Nola did all he could, allowing just three hits and a run over seven innings with nine strikeouts. It was a terrific bounce-back performance after he gave up 11 runs and four homers in nine innings over his prior two starts.
“There are certain guys that are big-game guys and he’s one of ‘em,” manager Rob Thomson said. “I don’t worry too much about him having back-to-back poor performances.”
Two of the three hits belonged to Hoskins, who doubled in the bottom of the second and hit a solo shot in the fifth. The Brewers hit just two home runs in 54 innings against the Phillies this season and both belonged to Hoskins — Wednesday off Nola and June 3 off Zack Wheeler.
Philadelphia Phillies
“Right when he hit it, just feel like I’ve seen it a lot from our side,” Nola said. “I’ve seen that guy hit curveballs out plenty of times. Honestly, it didn’t surprise me. He put a good swing on it. He’s a tough at-bat. I’ve seen it for many years.”
The Phils' lineup went 3-for-23 with runners in scoring position in the series and struck out 40 times.
“I don’t think it’s anything to freak out about,” Alec Bohm said. “Obviously, we could put the ball in play a little more but we’re going up against a pretty good pitching staff over there. Would it be nice to put the ball in play a couple more times here and there? Sure. But I don’t think it’s anything that we’re gonna go bang our heads against the wall and figure out why we’re striking out so much or anything like that.
“Running into a good pitching staff, you get down to the end of the year, things get amplified and people notice a little more. But I don’t think it’s a thing we’ll keep seeing.
“We take pride in being able to hit good pitching. Typically we do a pretty good job of it. Obviously a couple games in this series we did punch out a lot but we did put up five runs in a game punching out 17 times, so it doesn’t tell the whole story. But I think obviously we’re gonna want to not keep doing that.”
Bohm put the Phillies on the board with a one-out solo homer just over the wall in left-center vs. Freddy Peralta in the top of the third, a sweet line-drive swing on a slider low and over the middle. It was Bohm's 14th home run, 90th RBI and first big knock since returning from the injured list on Sunday.
But the opportunities were scarce thereafter against Peralta and the Brewers' top-tier bullpen. The Phillies' only hits after the second inning were leadoff singles in the sixth and eighth by Trea Turner and Kyle Schwarber.
The best chance was the sixth when Bryce Harper followed Turner's single with a walk after a lengthy plate appearance against right-hander Joe Ross. The next hitter, Nick Castellanos, struck out on three pitches. The Phillies tried twice to execute a double steal with Bohm at the plate but he fouled off both pitches, so his eventual flyball to deep right-center advanced the runners to second and third rather than drive one in. A groundout later, the Brewers were out of the inning.
The Phillies still accomplished one of their goals in Milwaukee by winning at least once to secure the head-to-head tiebreaker. They're 91-61 with 10 games left — four at the Mets, three with the Cubs, three at the Nationals. The Phils lead the Dodgers by two games for the top overall playoff seed and are four ahead of the Brewers.
They hand the ball to Taijuan Walker for Thursday's series opener against the Mets after three weeks out of the rotation.
