PHILS SNAP 'L' STREAK BEHIND HERNANDEZ'S BRILLIANCE

Lohse Tosses Gem, Absorbs 'L'

MILWAUKEE, July 9 (AP) - Roberto Hernandez retired 21 consecutive batters at one point and fired 8-1/3 innings of shutout ball, allowing the Philadelphia Phillies to snap an eight-game losing streak with a 2-0 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers at Miller Park.  Hernandez was absolutely brilliant.  After allowing a one-out single to Khris Davis in the bottom of the second he was perfect until the ninth when miscommunication on a pop fly off the bat of pinch hitter Rickie Weeks resulted in what was scored a single.  Any of three Phillies defenders could have caught the ball, but none did, and it brought a premature end to Hernandez's night.

Brewers starter Kyle Lohse was almost as good as Hernandez.  He blanked Philadelphia for six innings and lost his own shutout bid only because of a passed ball, leading to a single unearned run.

Until the seventh, when the Phillies finally broke the scoreless deadlock, there was only one decent scoring chance for either club, and that came in the top of the third.  Hernandez aided his own cause by rolling a one-out single into left field.  After Ben Revere popped out, Jimmy Rollins lined a single to right, putting runners on first and third with two outs.  But Lohse retired Chase Utley on a soft grounder to third to end the inning.

In the top of the seventh, the Phillies dented home plate.  Lohse retired Marlon Byrd and Cody Asche on routine infield grounders, but Dominic Brown kept the inning alive with a single through the box, concluding a nine-pitch at bat.  Catcher Martin Maldonado's passed ball on the ensuing plate appearance allowed Brown to reach second, which proved critical when Cameron Rupp doubled to left, scoring Brown. 

Philadelphia netted an insurance run in the top of the ninth against the Milwaukee bullpen.  Will Smith issued a lead-off walk to Ryan Howard who was replaced on first base by pinch runner John Mayberry.  Byrd's roller to the first base side of the mound resulted in the first out, but Mayberry moved into scoring position on the play.  Asche's single to right advanced Mayberry to third and Brown followed with a grounder to short that was too softly hit to turn a double play, scoring Mayberry to give the Phillies a 2-0 lead.

In the bottom of the ninth, Hernandez retired Logan Schafer on a ground ball for the first out and then Weeks came up to pinch hit.  He lifted what appeared to be routine pop fly to shallow center field.  Rollins, Utley and Revere surrounded it and then stared at one another as it fell between all three of them.  Scored a hit, it was just the second Brewers safety of the game, but it brought the tying run to the plate.  Phillies manager Ryne Sandberg, evidently feeling utterly snakebitten by a recent atrocious stretch of play by his team--Philadelphia entered the game having dropped 16 of its last 19 contests--raced out to the mound and removed Hernandez in favor of closer Jonathan Papelbon, who surrendered an infield single to Carlos Gomez, putting runners on first and second and bringing the winning run to the plate in the form of Jean Segura.  Papelbon fell behind Segura 2-0, but induced him to ground to Utley at second.  Utley and Rollins then made up for the gaffe on the pop fly a couple of batters earlier by turning a nifty 4-6-3 double play to end the game and the Phillies' losing streak.

7/9/2014, Phi14-Mil14, Miller Park

                       1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9     R  H  E   LOB DP
2014 Phillies          0  0  0  0  0  0  1  0  1     2  6  0     6  1
2014 Brewers           0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0     0  3  0     2  0

Phillies             AB  R  H BI   AVG    Brewers              AB  R  H BI   AVG
Revere            cf  4  0  0  0  .323    Gomez,C           cf  4  0  1  0  .280
Rollins           ss  4  0  1  0  .208    Segura            ss  4  0  0  0  .227
Utley             2b  4  0  0  0  .268    Gennett           2b  3  0  0  0  .292
Howard            1b  3  0  0  0  .197    Ramirez,Ar        3b  3  0  0  0  .232
 Mayberry         pr  0  1  0  0  .216    Davis,K           lf  3  0  1  0  .231
Byrd              rf  4  0  0  0  .228    Overbay           1b  3  0  0  0  .255
Asche             3b  3  0  1  0  .291    Maldonado         c   2  0  0  0  .131
Brown,D           lf  4  1  1  1  .216     Lucroy           ph  1  0  0  0  .342
Rupp              c   4  0  1  1  .226    Schafer,L         rf  3  0  0  0  .157
 Papelbon         p   0  0  0  0  .000    Lohse             p   2  0  0  0  .154
Hernandez,R       p   3  0  2  0  .147     Smith,W          p   0  0  0  0  .000
 Hill,K           c   0  0  0  0  .190     Weeks,R          ph  1  0  1  0  .271
                     33  2  6  2                               29  0  3  0

Phillies                         INN  H  R ER BB  K PCH STR   ERA
Hernandez,R      W 6-5           8.1  2  0  0  0  4  99  62  4.41
Papelbon         S 26            0.2  1  0  0  0  0   7   3  1.43
                                 9.0  3  0  0  0  4 106  65 

Brewers                          INN  H  R ER BB  K PCH STR   ERA
Lohse            L 4-8           8.0  5  1  0  1  4 115  77  3.31
Smith,W                          1.0  1  1  1  1  1  16   7  3.25
                                 9.0  6  2  1  2  5 131  84 

Phi: Mayberry ran for Howard in the 9th
     Mayberry moved to 1b in the 9th
     Hill,K inserted at c in the 9th
Mil: Lucroy batted for Maldonado in the 8th
     Lucroy moved to c in the 9th
     Weeks,R batted for Smith,W in the 9th

2B-Rupp(5). RBI-Brown,D(17), Rupp(1). K-Howard 2, Byrd, Rupp, Hernandez,R, 
Gennett, Maldonado, Schafer,L, Lohse. BB-Howard, Asche. PB-Maldonado. 
GWRBI: Rupp
Temperature: 92, Sky: clear, Wind: none.
Attendance: 38,844
Game Time: 2:36