Roy Halladay tossed eight strong innings and Ryan Howard clubbed his 32nd homer of the year as the Phillies beat the Brewers 5-3. It was the Phils fifth straight win and their second straight over the NL Central leading Brewers, who were also owners of the NL’s second best record coming into this series.
Howard got this off to a quick start as he hit a three run homer in the top of the first to give Roy Halladay a three run cushion before even taking the mound. As is the often the case with Halladay, those three runs were plenty. Halladay tossed eight innings of one run, 4-hit ball, striking out nine. It was a little concerning that he threw 120 pitches on a night where he had a five run lead and his team has a nearly 20 game cushion in the playoff race… But Cholly leaves his guys in. Nothing new.
Antonio Bastardo came on for the ninth and gave up a single, a walk and a run without recording an out. He was pulled for Ryan Madson, who gave up an inherited runner to close the gap to 5-3, but closed the door from there on out for his 29th save.
Milwaukee has now scored a total of three runs in 17 innings against Phillies starters so far this series and they haven’t even faced the rotations’ best… Cliff Lee, who has been the most dominant pitcher in baseball for the past month takes on Randy Wolf tomorrow night.
Notes: Roy Halladay reached 200 strikeouts for the fifth time in his career. The Phillies record on the road is now 44-26, the best in the majors. Charlie Manuel got his 637th victory which moves him ahead of Harry Wright for second on the team’s all-time list. With eight more wins, which is all but guaranteed this season, he’ll catch Gene Mauch for the most all time wins as Phillies skipper.