Suter leads the way, Milwaukee slugs Philadelphia 13-2
MILWAUKEE (AP) Brent Suter used his bat and left arm to beat the Philadelphia Phillies.
Suter drove in two runs and pitched a career-high seven innings, Christian Yelich, Hernan Perez and Jesus Aguilar homered and the NL Central-leading Milwaukee Brewers beat Jake Arrieta and the Phillies 13-2 on Friday night.
Suter (7-4) allowed one run on six hits to win his fifth start in the last six, including a 12-3 victory over the Phillies six days ago. The lanky left-hander tossed a career-high 105 pitches and pushed the Brewers to 43-27, the best record in the NL.
''He always gives 100 percent when he pitches, and we support him,'' Perez said. ''Sometimes, we need that nine holes to get a hit. Tonight, (Suter) did that.''
Suter went 2 for 2, scored twice and got hit by a pitch in his 16th appearance and 13th start. The team originally thought Suter might start the season in the bullpen, but that's not been the case lately.
Milwaukee has scored 40 runs against the Phillies in four games, including 27 in three at Citizens Bank Park. Philadelphia has 13 in that span.
Arrieta (5-5) came in 3-0 with a 2.03 ERA in five career starts at Miller Park, but the Brewers snapped that streak by reaching him for eight runs - four earned - on seven hits in 3 1/3 innings. He walked two and struck out one.
''Jake did not have his fastball command, and we didn't play good defense behind him,'' Phillies manager Gabe Kapler said. ''That was the story of the game today.''
Arrieta put the blame on his shoulders, ignoring the season high-tying four errors.
''I singlehandedly lost us the game,'' he said. ''I put up a 5 spot in the second inning. It wasn't because of the defense, really. ''
Philadelphia also had four errors on March 31 at Atlanta.
Suter got hit by a pitch with the bases loaded in the second. Shortstop Scott Kingery misplayed Lorenzo Cain's liner for two more runs. Aguilar added a sacrifice fly and Cain scored on a wild pitch.
The Brewers chased Arrieta in the fourth, keeping him winless in three starts in June.
Suter reached on a fielding error by left fielder Rhys Hoskins and scored on Cain's double. Yelich hit the first pitch for his ninth home run of the season.
Perez started the sixth by homering off reliever Mark Leiter Jr. Suter sliced an opposite-field base hit for his second RBI in the game.
Cesar Hernandez went 3 for 3 with an RBI double in the sixth. Odubel Herrera hit a solo homer in the ninth.
TRAINER'S ROOM
Phillies: RHP Pat Neshek (right shoulder strain) threw and ran some sprints in preparation for throwing a bullpen session on Sunday. RHP Jerad Eickhoff (right lat strain) threw Friday and should throw another bullpen on Tuesday.
Brewers: 2B Jonathan Villar missed his second consecutive game with a calf injury. He left Tuesday's 4-0 win over the Chicago Cubs after legging out an infield single in the eighth inning.
LEARN FROM ERRORS
Kapler believes in Kingery, despite his costly error.
''At the end of the day, do we think that he will be one of our better players for many, many years to come in part because of this experience?'' Kapler said. ''The answer is yes.''
Kingery has six errors in 63 games so far this season.
''Right now, we feel like Scottie is developing very well and becoming a much better shortstop,'' Kapler said.
A DOZEN, PLEASE
The Brewers are the first team to score at least 12 runs three times in a season against the Phillies since the 1968 Cincinnati Reds.
POSITION-PLAYING PITCHER
Philadelphia infielder Jesmuel Valentin pitched the eighth and surrendered Aguilar's two-run homer and Manny Pina' run-scoring grounder. It was his first pitching appearance and second of the season for the Phillies, who used Pedro Florimon on May 18 at St. Louis.
''This is our way of saying tomorrow is important, too,'' Kapler said. ''The next day is important, too. We're going to preserve our guys in our bullpen.''
UP NEXT
Phillies: RHP Zach Eflin (3-2, 3.63 ERA) makes his second consecutive start against the Brewers. He beat them 4-3 on June 10, allowing two runs on three hits in six innings and matching his season high with nine strikeouts.
Brewers: RHP Junior Guerra (3-4, 2.71 ERA) makes his 13th start and first against the Phillies this season. He is 0-1 with a 7.20 ERA in two career starts against Philadelphia at Citizens Bank park.
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