Milwaukee, WI – Ryan Braun finished 3-for-4 and drove in the eventual deciding run in the seventh inning, as the Milwaukee Brewers beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 4-3, in the third tilt of a four-game series at Miller Park.
Jean Segura went 2-for-4 with a solo homer and scored twice, while Jonathan Lucroy and Carlos Gomez each had an RBI apiece for the Brewers, who have won two in a row in the set.
Tyler Thornburg (1-0) pitched two scoreless innings of relief to record his first career big league win. Francisco Rodriguez worked a 1-2-3 ninth inning to secure the victory and pick up his fourth save of the year.
"Gorzelanny had a nice outting the first couple innings," said Brewers manager Ron Roenicke. "Kintzler had some trouble but everyone else in the bullpen was good."
Kyle Kendrick (6-4) surrendered three runs on eight hits while striking out six over six frames in defeat. Domonic Brown was the only run provider for the Phillies, hitting his league-leading 19th homer and adding a late two-run double.
The eventual deciding run came after the speedy Segura beat out an infield single. He went on to steal second, and advanced to third on a wild pitch by Phillies reliever Michael Stutes. Braun then delivered a one-out single to left to score Segura. Earlier in the frame, Norichika Aoki tripled but was thrown out at home trying to score on a wild pitch.
In the eighth, Michael Young and Kevin Frandsen both singled, and Brown struck with a two-out, two-run double off reliever Brandon Kintzler for a 4-3 game.
With a chance to tie or take the lead, Ryan Howard came in to pinch hit, but grounded out to end the threat.
Brown's solo home run in the second put the visitors on the board against Milwaukee starter Tom Gorzelanny. It was the 38th solo homer of 47 hit by the Phils this season, and the 39th appeared to be on its way by John Mayberry on the next pitch, but he was robbed of a home run by Brewers center fielder Gomez.
Segura answered in the third with a two-out shot of his own to tie the game.
Gorzelanny, whose last start came in October for the Washington Nationals, threw four effective innings yielding just one run on five hits while fanning three.
After watching the Phillies strand runners on the corners in the sixth, the Brewers made sure that didn't happen to them.
"We had some chances to score but we couldn't take advantage of them," said Phillies manager Charlie Manuel. "Kendrick kept us in it, they could have scored a lot more."
Braun and Aramis Ramirez each singled to start the frame. Lucroy then ripped a line drive to left to bring in a run and Gomez followed that up with an RBI single to increase the hosts' lead to 3-1. Kendrick was able to get the next three batters out to keep the damage to a minimum.
Game Notes
Milwaukee has won four of the six meetings against Philadelphia thus far ... The Phillies fell to 8-25 when scoring three-or-fewer runs ... Aoki has gone 64 consecutive plate appearances without striking out ... Gorzelanny was the first lefty to start a game for the Brewers this season ... The Phillies have homered in 13 straight games ... Segura ranks third in the MLB with 82 hits.
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