Game 68 - 2018 Phillies Team Issue 2 #15 Andrew Knapp

Phillies 4, Brewers 1
Game 68 - Saturday Afternoon, June 16th in Milwaukee
Record - 36-32, 3rd place, 4 games behind the Braves

One Sentence Summary:  The Phils hung on to win this game, 4-1, despite a lack of clutch hitting.

What It Means:  They'll go for the series win on Father's Day and then come home to open a 3-game set against the Cardinals.

What Happened:  Zach Eflin threw five strong innings, but was pulled in favor of a pinch-hitter in the 6th.  The move paid off when pinch-hitter Maikel Franco was intentionally walked to load the bases and then J.P. Crawford walked to give the Phils a 3-1 lead.  Cesar Hernandez followed that up by beating out an infield single to put the Phillies up 4-1.  Hector Neris was (surprisingly) called upon to pitch the 9th, and shut the Brewers down in order to record his 10th save.

The offense drew 10 walks but left 15 runners on base, including bases loaded strandings in the 6th, 7th and 8th innings.

Featured Card:  The Phillies first got on the board with an absolute moonshot home run (9) from Rhys Hoskins in the 4th, followed by another solo home run from Andrew Knapp (1) in the 5th.  I'm giving Knapp the card here as the now back-up catcher has struggled at the plate this season and his average went up to .183 following this game.

Transactions:  The bullpen shuffled its ranks before this game with Luis Garcia landing on the 10-day disabled list with a wrist injury and Mark Leiter, Jr. heading back down to Lehigh Valley.  Yacksel Rios and Jake Thompson were summoned to take their places.