William Contreras doubled home two runs and Aaron Civale allowed one run over five-plus innings to pace the Milwaukee Brewers to a 6-2 victory over the visiting Philadelphia Phillies on Monday in the opener of a three-game series between division leaders.
Milwaukee’s magic number to clinch the National League Central dropped to two. The Brewers (87-63) remained 10 games in front of the second-place Cubs (77-73), who topped the Oakland A’s 9-2.
Philadelphia (90-60) leads the NL East by eight games over the New York Mets (82-68) and is one game in front of the Los Angeles Dodgers (89-61) for the best record in the NL.
Civale (7-8) exited after allowing consecutive singles by Kyle Schwarber and Trea Turner to open the sixth. He walked one and fanned six in his outing. Hoby Milner took over and retired the next three hitters to escape the jam.
Colin Rea, who has made 25 starts this season, held the Phillies scoreless for the final 2 2/3 innings to earn his first career save.
Philadelphia starter Ranger Suarez (12-7) allowed three runs on four hits in five innings. He struck out five and walked three.
Contreras double put Milwaukee up 2-0 in the third. Jackson Chourio walked with one out and Blake Perkins singled. Contreras followed with a two-run liner into the gap in left-center.
The Brewers added a run in the fourth when Rhys Hoskins walked, Sal Frelick doubled and Joey Ortiz followed with a sacrifice fly.
Brandon Marsh got the Phillies on the board in the fifth with a two-out solo homer, his 16th.
Milwaukee scored two in the sixth off Jose Alvarado. Gary Sanchez walked and was forced out at second on Sal Frelick fielder’s-choice ground. Ortiz tripled home Frelick, and Brice Turang followed with an RBI single to make it 5-1.
Schwarber’s RBI single brought the Phillies within 5-2 in the seventh. Milwaukee answered in the bottom half on Sanchez’s sacrifice fly.
–Field Level Media
