Late homer, RBI single propel Brewers to win over Phillies
PHILADELPHIA -- Domingo Santana and Scooter Gennett provided timely hits and the bullpen did the rest for the Milwaukee Brewers.
Santana hit a tiebreaking solo homer in the eighth inning, Jonathan Villar went deep for the third straight game and the Brewers beat the Philadelphia Phillies 6-3 on Saturday.
Will Smith (1-0) tossed a perfect seventh to earn the win. Tyler Thornburg had a 1-2-3 eighth and Jeremy Jeffress finished for his 15th save in 16 tries.
Gennett gave the Brewers a three-run cushion in the ninth with a two-out, two-run single off Andrew Bailey. Milwaukee's bullpen retired nine of 10 batters faced.
"Being able to tack on a few more runs there was awesome," Gennett said. "Lately they've been attacking me more, so I'm trying to be more aggressive."
Milwaukee's bullpen retired nine of 10 batters faced.
"They've been great in this series," Brewers manager Craig Counsell said.
Santana connected off Hector Neris (1-3) leading off the eighth for his fourth homer and first since returning from the disabled list on Friday. Villar had three hits and two RBIs.
"He's an offensive player for sure," Counsell said of Santana. "He's got some slug in his offense and we need that in the lineup."
Tommy Joseph and Cesar Hernandez each hit homers for the Phillies, who have lost eight of nine and 12 of 15.
"I thought we were going to have a good day offensively and then we shut down," Phillies manager Pete Mackanin said. "Our guys give away too many at-bats. You have to be consistent. Too many at-bats go away too quickly. They get two strikes and flail away at a pitch. Good hitters don't do that."
Joseph homered to straightaway center to tie it at 1 in the second. He has four homers in 53 at-bats since being called up from Triple-A.
After Tyler Goeddel tripled off the wall in left-center, Hernandez drove his first homer of the season out to deep center to give the Phillies a 3-1 lead.
Jonathan Lucroy lined a triple off the foul stripe on the left-field wall to start the fifth. He scored on Chris Carter's sacrifice fly to tie it at 3.
Villar led off with his third homer in the series. He had two homers in 51 games before arriving at hitter-friendly Citizens Bank Park on Thursday night.
His RBI single in the fourth cut it to 3-2.
The Brewers had runners on first and third with one out, but Aaron Hill struck out and Ryan Braun bounced out to the pitcher.
Villar reached on an infield single with a headfirst dive into first base to load the bases with two outs in the second. But Hill flied out to end the inning.
Both Villar and Santana began their careers in Philadelphia's organization. Villar was traded to Houston in the deal that brought Roy Oswalt to the Phillies in July 2010. Santana was traded to the Astros a year later in a package for Hunter Pence.
POWER UP
Villar is the first Brewers shortstop to hit homers in three straight games since J.J. Hardy on April 19-21, 2007.
STARTING TIME
Brewers: Junior Guerra allowed three runs and six hits in six innings.
Phillies: Jeremy Hellickson gave up three runs and seven hits in five innings.
SECOND TIME'S A CHARM
A fan who dropped a foul ball got one on the next pitch when Ruiz fouled it back to the same spot into the second deck behind the plate.
UP NEXT
RHP Wily Peralta (3-6, 6.51) starts for the Brewers against Phillies RHP Aaron Nola (4-4, 2.88) in the series finale. Peralta is 3-2 with a 5.83 ERA in five career starts vs. Philadelphia. Nola allowed one run in seven innings to earn a win in his only start vs. Milwaukee on April 22.
