Thursday, October 1, 2026
73 ° Clear
73 ° Clear
On Saturday night in Milwaukee, the Philadelphia Phillies were just glad they did not have to face Jacob Misiorowski again. The offense, just a day after being one-hit against Cristopher Sánchez’s biggest competition for the National League Cy Young Award, found itself back in the groove it has been in over the last 10 days.
Philly has struggled mightily against left-handed starting pitchers this season. Tonight was an atypical performance for them, leading to a 9-8 victory after a 17-hit explosion at the plate. It was the Phillies 15th win in 1-run games, most in MLB.
The Brewers offense kept pace, but the Phillies offense continued delivering in a situation where it had to - the opposite of what was necessary for victory for the majority of the season’s first two months.
Aaron Nola wasn’t sharp, and two key bullpen pieces continued some early-season struggles. Plenty of offense was had on both sides, with Philly doing enough to hang on for the win. Let’s break it down.
Tonight was not the worst start of Nola’s season. Not even close. However, he went short enough in the game while allowing three earned runs, that the 5.86 ERA he sported coming in did not waiver upon his exit.
Surprisingly, Nola was pulled after 4 ⅔ innings and 85 pitches with a runner on first. Don Mattingly opted for the lefty-on-lefty matchup, bringing up Tim Mayza to face Jake Bauers. Mayza would surrender a single to Bauers, but would escape the fifth frame unscathed.
Mattingly told reporters postgame he thought NOLA was “pretty good” tonight. “Obviously, he got caught with that back-door breaking ball. Probably got a little more plate than he wanted, but he kept them off balance early,” Mattingly said. “It’s a battle…[the Brewers] are gonna put the ball in play, they’re gonna keep scrapping.”
Milwaukee had a typical game for them - 12 hits, advancing and stealing bases whenever possible. They added some power, as well. Both of the home runs Nola surrendered were on his best pitch - the Knucklecurve. He had not given up a homer on that pitch before tonight.
Orion Kerkering continued his hot start to the season, and Jhoan Duran earned the save after a clean ninth inning. Between those two, however, some concerning trends continued for two high-leverage relievers.
José Alvarado surrendered two runs in his one inning of work, raising his ERA to 5.76. Over his last 8 appearances, Alvarado has a 6.48 ERA, giving up multiple runs three times. Brad Keller’s experience has been very hot and cold. Since May, his ERA has jumped around, being as high as 4.61 and as low as 3.38 - the number he brought into Saturday night.
The issue when Keller hasn’t been his best is that it appears he has no control. Walks, wild pitches, the innings just seem to get away from him, and he struggles to wrap his arms around it. Despite a deep arsenal of pitches, when something is not working, it almost seems like nothing is. Don Mattingly referred to Keller’s outing as “hectic” before he recorded an out via a sac fly and felt his reliever was able to settle down after that and make good pitches.
Still, those good pitches came after three Brewers crossed the plate. Two of the team’s high-leverage relievers gave up a combined five earned runs against a first-place club. Normally, not a winning formula. Tonight, they escaped with the victory.
Here’s how the bottom of tonight’s order lined up:
A group with a combined batting average of .212 before Saturday. During the contest, they went 9-for-18 as a group, combining for six runs scored and seven RBIs. To tally nine runs and 17 hits in total, everyone had to contribute, but it was truly the bottom that drove the action. The quality of at-bats were great as hitters used the whole field, going the opposite way, and showed the patience and poise to stay aggressive deep into counts. Sosa and Realmuto both hit home runs, with Sosa’s going out to the opposite field.
Bryce Harper was the only starter to fail to record a hit. The entire group went 5-for-10 with runners in scoring position tonight against a strong Brewers pitching staff. Once again, the part of the team that had been the weakest over the first two months of the season came around and did enough to secure a victory.
After going 13 games across 15 days without putting five runs on the board, the Phillies' offense has now done so in six of their last 10 contests, recording double-digit hits in all but one of those six outbursts.
The Phillies have a chance tomorrow to win another series against a team with a winning record, something they have done plenty of under Don Mattingly. This time, it would be against a first-place club that is one of five teams to have 40-plus victories.
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