Phillies win 4-2, complete road sweep of Brewers

[May 17, 2010]  MILWAUKEE (AP) -- Cole Hamels pitched into the seventh inning despite giving up back-to-back home runs and the Philadelphia Phillies extended the Milwaukee Brewers misery at home with a 4-2 victory Sunday night to complete a three-game sweep.

Hamels helped out on offense, too, delivering a sharp RBI double in the second.

Casey McGehee and Corey Hart homered for the Brewers, who also were swept at home by the Atlanta Braves this week.

Hamels (4-2) held the Brewers scoreless until McGehee homered the sixth. Hart followed with a solo shot of his own, cutting the Phillies lead to 3-2. But that was all the Brewers could muster off Hamels, who gave up six hits with three walks and three strikeouts in 6 2-3 innings.

Leading 3-2 in the eighth, the Phillies picked up another run when Chase Utley struck out on a ball in the dirt -- but the ball got away from catcher Gregg Zaun, allowing Utley to run to first and Shane Victorino to score from third base. The pitch by Brewers reliever Carlos Villanueva was ruled a wild pitch.

Ryan Braun and Prince Fielder both reached base to begin the bottom half of the eighth, but McGehee hit into a double play and Hart grounded out. J.C. Romero pitched the ninth for his first save of the season.

It was a fitting end to a weeklong homestand of horrors for the Brewers.

Milwaukee lost all six on its current homestand and have lost eight overall at home. The Brewers haven't lost eight straight at home since 1996, when they lost nine in a row.

Milwaukee now is a miserable 4-14 at Miller Park, and mercifully hits the road for a week.

It was a serviceable start on short notice for Milwaukee's Dave Bush (1-4), whose turn in the rotation was moved up when scheduled starter Doug Davis was scratched earlier in the day.

Davis has been diagnosed with pericarditis, an inflammation of the membrane surrounding the heart. It's believed to be a mild case, and Davis hopes to return in two weeks. His condition is not related to his 2008 bout with thyroid cancer.

Bush and the Brewers got off to a rough start when Victorino singled, then took third base on a stolen base and error by Rickie Weeks at second base. Placido Polanco doubled, scoring Victorino.

Milwaukee had a big chance with the bases loaded in the bottom half of the first, but Hart missed a grand slam by only a few feet on a deep flyout to center field.

The Phillies took a 2-0 lead when Hamels smashed an RBI double to the right-field gap in the second, then went ahead 3-0 in the third on a pair of ground-rule doubles by Jayson Werth and Wilson Valdez.

Bush left after six innings, giving up nine hits and three runs.

NOTES: Brewers CF Carlos Gomez will begin a minor league rehabilitation assignment for his strained left rotator cuff this week and is expected to be ready in time for next weekend's series against his former team, the Minnesota Twins. ... Until Sunday, Hamels had gone three straight starts without giving a home run after giving up four in a loss at Arizona on April 23. ... Weeks was charged with a pair of errors.

[Associated Press; By CHRIS JENKINS]

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