That miscue in the seventh inning cracked open the door, and the Brewers kicked it down. Jake Bauers — hitting under .200 and pinch-hitting in Christian Yelich’s spot after Yelich exited in the first with a bruised hand — slashed a two-run double down the left-field line. Just like that, Milwaukee took the lead, and never gave it back.
Three runs in the inning. One error. One blown lead. One sweep.
The Phillies dropped their fourth straight, a 5-2 loss that felt heavier than the score. The Brewers, meanwhile, celebrated their seventh win in a row and their first series sweep in Philadelphia in a decade. A team that hadn’t swept a three-game set all season has now done it twice in a week — first Boston, now Philadelphia and made it look routine.
Ranger Suárez did his part, tossing six innings of steady, efficient work while allowing just one earned run. He left after giving up a leadoff double to Caleb Durbin in the seventh, turning things over to a bullpen that needed one clean inning and didn’t get it. Weston Wilson misjudged Durbin’s liner into a double, Turner’s error extended the frame, and Bauers pounced on a breaking ball from Orion Kerkering to deliver the decisive blow.
The Phillies had built a 2-0 lead early with RBI singles from J.T. Realmuto and Kyle Schwarber, but the offense went quiet after the second inning. From that point forward, Milwaukee’s bullpen slammed the door. Nick Mears earned the win with a clean sixth, Jared Koenig and Abner Uribe took care of the next two innings, and Trevor Megill hit triple digits in the ninth to lock down his 11th save in 12 chances.
Even on a day when the Phillies put up a fight, small moments proved costly. A defensive lapse here, a missed opportunity there, and an offense that simply couldn’t string together much after the early innings. What could have been a momentum-salvaging win instead became a series-ending gut punch.
There were bright spots - another strong outing from Suárez, a healthy swing from Schwarber, and Realmuto continuing to battle, but they were buried beneath a seventh inning that turned on one mistake and spiraled into three runs. In the long run, it’s just one game in a 162-game season. But in the short run, it felt like a warning flare.
Bullpen Makeover
Taijuan Walker is going to the bullpen. Mick Abel is going to Toronto. José Ruiz is going to the transaction wire. And Seth Johnson is coming back to the big leagues.Call it a bullpen makeover. Or a rotation reshuffle. Or maybe just a Sunday morning reminder that June is when even the best teams start poking around for answers.
Just hours before trying to avoid a sweep at the hands of the Brewers, the Phillies rearranged the furniture: Walker will now pitch out of the bullpen full time. Abel, the former first-round pick with one (very good) major league start under his belt, gets the ball Thursday in Toronto. And Johnson, last seen giving up nine runs in a single game in September, is back in the bullpen mix after a solid stretch in Triple-A.
In other words: things are shifting.
Walker’s transition isn’t temporary. Manager Rob Thomson confirmed that the move to the bullpen is permanent. Not long relief. Not spot starts. Actual, one-inning, high-leverage relief work. A new role for a pitcher who has started 191 games in the big leagues but now finds himself hunting for late-inning outs.
The numbers suggest it might work. Walker owns a 3.53 ERA over 43 1/3 innings this season, though the command has wavered and his strikeout numbers are down. His last two appearances came out of the bullpen, offering a preview of what’s to come.
Meanwhile, Abel - the 23-year-old with a fastball that pops and a pedigree to match - has a chance to stick. He dazzled in his big league debut on May 18 with six shutout innings, and the Phillies believe he’s ready to hold down a spot in the rotation. Thursday’s start in Toronto is the next step.
To make room for Johnson’s return, Ruiz was designated for assignment. Johnson, now fully transitioned to a relief role in Lehigh Valley, struck out 42 batters in 33 innings. The Phillies saw enough to give him another shot. Just ignore the 2 1/3 innings last September when he gave up nine earned runs.
It's unclear right now when Aaron Nola will return to the starting rotation, so it's likely that Abel will get at least two starts before the club has to decide on how to - again - reshuffle the starting rotation.
