Bill Batterman is the When the Phillies visited Miller Park earlier in the month, they were riding the wave of a four-game winning streak and had celebrated 13 victories in their last 14 games. They ran into some timely hitting and left-handed pitching in Milwaukee, however, and were swept in the three-game series. Since then, the Fightin’ Phils have lost two of three against the Red Sox and Mets to drop to just two games over .500 at 24-22 and four games behind the first-place Mets.
The Brewers haven’t fared any better. After dispensing with the red-hot Phillies, Milwaukee lost two of three to the struggling Twins and the division rival Reds thanks in large part to a starting rotation that has in large part forgotten how to get batters out. The offense has continued to chug along with a steady stream of extra-base hits and has averaged five runs in a game during that stretch but the pitching staff has surrendered more than eight runs per contest.