MILWAUKEE — The Phillies entered this week’s series in Milwaukee with a chance to make a big push in the race for home-field advantage in the postseason.
They’re off to a good start.
Despite falling into an early four-run hole and letting a late lead slip away in the eighth, the Phils rallied for a 10-8 victory over the Brewers in a wild back-and-forth series opener Monday afternoon at American Family Field. The win pulled Philadelphia (80-58) to within 4 1/2 games of Milwaukee (85-54) for the top record in the NL — and kept the Phillies’ NL East lead at six games over the Mets (74-64).
Taijuan Walker started his day by serving up a leadoff homer to Brice Turang on his way to allowing five runs over four innings. But the Phils picked up Walker by chipping away in the middle innings after Brewers rookie Jacob Misiorowski held them in check over the first three frames.
Bryce Harper finally got to Misiorowski for a solo homer in the fourth, then Trea Turner ended the right-hander’s day with a two-run triple with one out in the fifth. Harrison Bader stayed hot with a pair of RBI doubles, including a clutch go-ahead knock into the left-field corner in the top of the eighth inning.
The Brewers rallied to tie it in the bottom half, only for Brandon Marsh to drive in pinch-runner Garrett Stubbs — playing in his first game of the season for the Phillies — on a go-ahead RBI single in the top of the ninth. It was Marsh’s fourth hit of the game, and proved to be the difference.
There is still plenty of baseball left — and this past week showed just how quickly things can change. The Phillies will look to continue cutting into the Brewers’ lead for the top seed over the final two games of this series, though the most interesting race at this point might just be for the second bye in the NL.
As it stands, the Phillies are 1 1/2 games ahead of the NL West-leading Dodgers (78-59) for that second bye. The Padres (76-61) are also in the mix, entering Monday night’s game against the Orioles just two games behind the Dodgers.
