One ugly inning dooms Phillies and Zack Wheeler in loss originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
A sloppy fifth inning Saturday doomed the Phillies, who had built a three-run lead behind Zack Wheeler by outplaying the Brewers in all phases to that point.
And unlike Friday’s series opener, there was no late offense left in the tank against Milwaukee’s strong bullpen tandem of Devin Williams and Josh Hader.
Wheeler started and pitched well until the Phils’ ugly fifth, retiring 10 Brewers in a row before Rowdy Tellez greeted him with a leadoff double. Milwaukee ended up scoring four times in the inning. Two of the singles were not hard-hit, and one run scored on a bad throw to second by J.T. Realmuto with runners on the corners and Christian Yelich attempting to steal second. Realmuto’s throw trickled into center field, allowing Willy Adames to score.
Kyle Schwarber also made a weak throw to the plate in the inning in a spot where a good throw could have nailed the runner. Schwarber fielded the single with momentum coming toward the plate but uncorked a 10-hopper that barely made it past the infield dirt in the 5-3 loss.
Manager Joe Girardi visited Wheeler on the mound with two on, two outs and two runs in. Wheeler, who threw 65 and 66 pitches in his first two starts, was at 75. Girardi left him in and Yelich hit a broken-bat RBI single to right that tied the game before the Brewers eventually took a lead. Wheeler finished the fifth, throwing a total of 84 pitches.
On a…