Victorino’s homer lifts Phillies over Brewers
PHILADELPHIA — Chris Narveson was nearly unhittable and the Milwaukee Brewers were 11 outs from sweeping the Philadelphia Phillies — and beating Roy Halladay and Cliff Lee on consecutive days.
Then came a fluke hit and a fly ball that kept on carrying out of the ballpark. So the Brewers settled for two out of three against the NL East-leading Phillies.
Shane Victorino hit a tiebreaking homer in the eighth inning, Placido Polanco had a three-run shot and the Phillies beat the Brewers 4-3 on Wednesday afternoon.
“Narveson was unbelievable. He just lost his command a little in the sixth,” Brewers manager Ron Roenicke said.
One night after beating Halladay, the Brewers took a 3-0 lead into the sixth against Lee and were trying to complete their first ever sweep in Philadelphia. But Polanco connected off Narveson to tie the game, and Victorino then hit a long drive to deep right-center off Brandon Kintzler (1-1) to put the Phillies up 4-3 in the eighth.
Ryan Madson (2-0) pitched a scoreless eighth inning to earn the win, and Jose Contreras finished for his fourth save in four tries.
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Second baseman Wilson Valdez helped Contreras by making an outstanding over-the-shoulder catch on a shallow looper to right by Carlos Gomez with one out in the ninth. Contreras then struck out Ryan Braun swinging on a 95 mph fastball to end it.
Prince Fielder had three hits and two RBIs and Jonathan Lucroy hit a solo homer for the Brewers, who tagged Lee for three runs — two earned — and eight hits in six innings. Lee had just one strikeout coming off a 12-strikeout shutout at Washington last Thursday.
Narveson didn’t allow a hit until John Mayberry Jr. lined a double to left with two outs in the fifth. The lefty took a one-hitter into the sixth before the Phillies rallied. He left after giving up three runs and four hits in six innings.
“I located well, had good command for most of the game,” Narveson said. “The thing we want to do is have quality starts and keep the team in the game.”