Phillies Fall Short of Postseason Spot Despite Aaron Nola's Efforts

MILWAUKEE — Ten unopened circumstances of beer sat outdoors the guests’ clubhouse on Wednesday night time at American Family Field.

The Phillies hoped to open these circumstances and toast a 3rd consecutive journey to the postseason. Instead, following a 2-1 walk-off loss to the Brewers, they postponed their toast till no sooner than Thursday night time at Citi Field in New York.

The Phillies can clinch their first NL East title in 13 years no sooner than Friday night time.

Whenever it occurs — the Phillies have a seven-game lead over the Mets with 10 video games to play — they may have fun correctly with masses of champagne and beer.

The Brewers celebrated with beer and champagne on Wednesday night time. They clinched the NL Central within the afternoon when the Cubs misplaced to the A’s. But Milwaukee nonetheless had one thing to play for at night time, and it confirmed.

The Brewers are attempting to catch the Dodgers for the NL’s No. 2 seed, which might give Milwaukee a first-round bye and home-field benefit within the NL Division Series. In any case, the Phillies and Brewers might meet once more within the NL Championship Series.

“Maybe,” Phillies right-hander Aaron Nola stated. “We’ve got to keep winning. If that point comes, that point comes.”

Nola pitched brilliantly in opposition to Milwaukee. He allowed one run in seven innings, permitting solely three hits and one stroll and placing out 9, efficiently rebounding from two consecutive substandard begins.

“Everything felt good,” Nola stated. “My command was pretty good. I felt like I was getting early outs. I went deep in a game. I feel like it’s been a while.”

The Phillies entered the night time with a 34-game profitable streak when their starter pitched seven or extra innings. It was the longest streak in franchise historical past and the second-longest streak in MLB historical past. The 1942 Cardinals gained 42 in a row.

Nola made his solely mistake within the fifth inning, when a 2-2 curveball discovered the center of the plate and Rhys Hoskins hit a solo homer to left subject.

“Right when he hit, I simply type of felt like I've seen that loads on our aspect from him,” Nola stated about his former Phillies teammate. “I've seen that guy hit curveballs out plenty of times. Honestly, it didn't really surprise me that he hit that pitch right there. But he put a good swing on it. He's a tough at-bat. I obviously know that. I've seen it for many years.”

But the Phillies’ streak ended, not as a result of Nola gave up a homer to Hoskins, however as a result of the Phillies’ offense couldn’t get something going. They struck out 16 occasions on Wednesday. They additionally struck out 16 occasions in Tuesday’s 5-1 victory.

“We’ve got to get back to our two-strike approach, use the field and eliminate chase,” Phillies supervisor Rob Thomson stated.

It was the primary time in franchise historical past the Phillies had struck out 16-plus occasions in consecutive video games.

“I don’t think it’s anything to freak out about or anything like that,” stated Alec Bohm, who hit a solo homer to left within the second inning. “Obviously, we might put the ball in play just a little bit extra. But we’re additionally going up in opposition to some fairly good pitching. Would or not it's good to place the ball in play a pair extra occasions? Yeah, for positive. But I don’t assume it’s something we’re going to bang our heads in opposition to a wall about.

“I don’t think it’s a thing that we’re going to keep seeing. Obviously, we have a lot of big hitters in our lineup. A lot of power. A lot of guys who are going to have their strikeouts from time to time.”

The solely concern is that the Phillies swung and missed loads final fall within the NLCS, ending their season quick of a World Series championship.

This group believes it could possibly keep away from an analogous wrestle.

“Just the track record, and obviously we take pride in being able to hit good pitching,” Bohm stated. “Typically, we do a pretty good job of it. Obviously, a couple games this series we did punch out a lot. But we’re also able to put up five runs in a game punching out [16] times. I think it doesn’t always tell the whole story, but I do think obviously we’re going to not want to keep doing that.”

“I like our lineup against anybody,” Thomson stated. “I’m confident in that.”