Philadelphia, PA (My Sportsbook) - Shane Victorino hit a grand slam off CC Sabathia, and Brett Myers tossed seven strong innings as Philadelphia downed Milwaukee, 5-2, in Game 2 of the teams' National League Division Series.
The Phillies took a 2-0 lead in the best-of-five series and moved one victory away from winning their first playoff series since 1993. Game 3 is scheduled for Saturday in Milwaukee.
It was Victorino's first career grand slam and the first postseason grand slam in Phillies franchise history. Myers (1-0) gave up two runs on two hits and three walks, while striking out four, for Philadelphia, which has won seven straight against Milwaukee dating back to the regular season.
Myers also went 1-for-2 with a crucial walk that led to Victorino's homer.
Philadelphia got all its runs off Sabathia (0-1), who turned in his second- shortest outing of the season. In 3 2/3 frames, he gave up five runs on six hits and four walks, with five strikeouts.
Sabathia, who was going on short rest for the fourth straight time, went 3 1/3 innings in his third start of the season. Sabathia on Thursday gave up five earned runs for the first time since an April 16 start against Detroit.
J.J. Hardy doubled and drove in a run for the Brewers, who are making their first postseason appearance since 1982, but overcame an 0-2 series deficit that postseason. Milwaukee lost the first two games of the best-of- five American League Championship Series, but rebounded to win the final three games against the California Angels.
Despite Myers' solid final line, he got into a jam in the first inning. With one out, Ray Durham walked and Ryan Braun doubled to put runners in scoring position. Myers then intentionally walked Prince Fielder before also walking Hardy to force in a run.
However, the Phillies starter avoided further trouble by getting Corey Hart to hit a grounder back to the mound, which Myers turned into an inning-ending double play.
"We had them kind of on the ropes and (Myers had) thrown about 14 balls out of the last 19 pitches he threw," Brewers manager Dale Sveum said. "So that's just part of maturing, sometimes as a hitter, but Corey is a very aggressive hitter, and unfortunately he hit a ground ball back to the pitcher and they were able to get out of that inning, and obviously that was a turning point in the ball game."
Sabathia managed to keep the Phillies scoreless in the first inning, despite allowing a one-out double to Victorino. But the left-hander imploded in the second frame.
Jayson Werth roped a one-out double to center and scored on Pedro Feliz's line smash double down the third-base line to tie the game. After Carlos Ruiz's groundout moved Feliz to third, Myers came to the plate, seemingly giving Sabathia a way out of the inning.
Myers fell in an 0-2 hole in the count, only to take a slider for a ball, and foul a pitch off. He took another slider low to even the count at 2-2 before fouling off another Sabathia offering. Another ball low set the count full and Myers walked on the next pitch.
"I know I'm a terrible hitter, but I really can't explain it," Myers said. "It was like one of those freakish things that I was able to lay off some good pitches that he made and able to extend his pitch count. And it's like one of those things where baseball's weird like that to where you can have a guy that pretty much can't hit a lick to go up there and battle a guy that's as good as CC. And it's just part of the game."
The nine-pitch at-bat was the apparent turning point, as Sabathia loaded the bases by walking Jimmy Rollins. Victorino batted next and drilled a high breaking ball into the left field stands to give the Phillies a 5-1 lead.
"I said 'Did that really just happen?' That's more than anything, it was just the excitement in the air," Victorino said. "Knowing that we got a little cushion on a guy like CC to get an early lead."
Said Sabathia of the pitch: "It was a cutter. I threw it in and didn't get it down, didn't bounce it, it was 0-2, 1-2, I don't know what the count was. I know it was two strikes. And just didn't make the pitch. When I saw it leave, I was just trying to keep the score right there where it was."
Sabathia got out of the inning without another run allowed, but got into more trouble in the fourth. A walk to Chase Utley loaded the bases with two outs, and Sabathia was removed for Mitch Stetter, who fanned Ryan Howard to end the frame.
The Phillies went without a run the rest of the game, despite having at least one runner in scoring position in each of the first six innings. But Myers shut down the Brewers after the first inning, setting them down in order in the second, third, fifth and sixth innings.
"Tonight I just tried to work down in the zone and go from there," Myers said. "And I was able to do it in my past bullpens before this outing. I felt pretty confident about going out there and locating fastballs and down in the zone."
In the seventh, Myers allowed a leadoff double to Hardy, who eventually scored on Craig Counsell's groundout to make it a 5-2 game.
Philadelphia's bullpen, though, finished out the game. Ryan Madson and J.C. Romero combined to throw a scoreless eighth, and Brad Lidge needed 12 pitches in the ninth to earn his second save of the playoffs.
Game Notes
Myers saw 19 pitches in his two at-bats against Sabathia...Victorino finished 3-for-4 with a pair of doubles...Werth ended with a pair of doubles...Utley and Howard combined to go 0-for-7 with six strikeouts...Braun finished 2- for-4...Attendance was 46,208, the largest crowd ever at Citizens Bank Park.
