Wolf sharp in return to Philly
Milwaukee’s Ryan Braun celebrated his home run with teammate Prince Fielder during the third inning of last night’s game. The Brewers beat the Philadelphia Phillies 9-0.
PHILADELPHIA » Back in the ballpark where he used to be an ace, Randy Wolf shut down his former team and outpitched the reigning NL Cy Young Award winner.
Wolf tossed six crisp innings, Ryan Braun and Casey McGehee homered and the Milwaukee Brewers beat Roy Halladay and the Philadelphia Phillies 9-0 last night.
The Brewers became the first team to win a series against the NL East-leading Phillies this season. They’ll try to complete a three-game sweep today when Cliff Lee takes the mound for Philadelphia.
Wolf (2-2) allowed two hits, struck out five and walked three against his former team. The left-hander had his best seasons with Philadelphia in the early 2000s, and was an All-Star in ’03.
"It was tough early on. I didn’t have my best stuff," Wolf said. "I tried to mix speeds a lot and I think I kept them off balance."
Jimmy Rollins had a bunt single in the first and Shane Victorino hit a double in the third for the Phillies’ only hits of the game.
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"I had really good defense behind me," Wolf said. "They’re a dangerous team. You don’t want to let them get something going."
Halladay (2-1) gave up six runs and 10 hits in 62⁄3 innings. It was his worst start since he allowed six runs in six innings in a loss at the New York Yankees last June 15.
Halladay tossed a complete game at Washington last Wednesday, needing 123 pitches to do it. He got an extra day of rest because of a rainout, but still wasn’t as sharp as usual.
"I felt good. There were times early when there were a couple pitches that cost me that weren’t where I wanted them," Halladay said.
Halladay retired the first two batters in the second before running into trouble against the bottom of the lineup. Yuniesky Betancourt doubled to deep right-center. With the pitcher on deck, Halladay fell behind in the count 3-1 to George Kottaras before grooving a fastball. Kottaras ripped an RBI single to right for a 1-0 lead.
"He’s the best pitcher in baseball and we put together some good at-bats against him," Braun said of Halladay. "You don’t want to get behind. You try to be patient, but not overly patient."
