Phillies' Cloyd shuts down Brewers
MILWAUKEE - Tyler Cloyd figures the best way he can help the Philadelphia Phillies is by being himself and not worry about replacing injured ace Roy Halladay in the rotation.
Cloyd allowed only four singles over 6 2/3 innings and the Phillies won their fifth straight, defeating the Milwaukee Brewers 5-1 on Thursday night to move above .500 for the first time this season.
"I don't think you can fill in for a pitcher with that status and how great he is," said Cloyd, called up from the minors in mid-May when Halladay underwent shoulder surgery. "For me, it's just go out and compete and give the team a chance to win. That's been my main goal ever since I got up here. That's all I concentrate on."
Cloyd (2-2) struck out two and did not allow a runner past second base despite a career-high five walks. Cloyd, who began the season at Triple-A Lehigh Valley, has allowed two earned runs or fewer in four of his five major-league starts this season.
"I was able to minimize the damage with those walks," said Cloyd. "I felt at times I was getting out of character for myself, trying to do too much with every pitch, to get too fine instead of just pounding the strike zone."
The Brewers were 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position and left nine men on base.
While Cloyd avoided trouble despite the number of baserunners, Brewers starter Wily Peralta was the opposite.
Peralta (4-7) allowed five runs on seven hits in five innings, walking four and wild pitching in a run while losing for the fifth time in six starts. In his previous start on Saturday - and lone victory during that stretch - Peralta limited the Phillies to two runs over seven innings.
"We expected him to come out today, facing the same team that he just threw a good ballgame against ... a couple ground balls the first two guys and then his command left him," Brewers manager Ron Roenicke said. "He didn't have his slider today. The hard one he kept trying to throw and he couldn't command it, so he went to a softer slider. He just didn't throw the ball where he wanted to."
The Brewers scored their only run in the eighth off Mike Adams when Ryan Braun walked, stole second and came around on successive ground outs by Aramis Ramirez and Jonathan Lucroy. The last-place Brewers have gone 8-26 since May 1, when they were a half-game out of first.
"We didn't swing the bat today. So, it wasn't just the pitching. It was both," Roenicke said.
The Phillies took a 2-0 lead in the first. Michael Young and John Mayberry reached on infield singles and Jimmy Rollins followed with a single to right to load the bases with no one out. Young scored on Ryan Howard's sacrifice fly to left. Domonic Brown walked to reload the bases, and Mayberry scored on a wild pitch by Peralta.
"It's the way it's been going for us," Lucroy said. "They get cheap hits and then get one big hit and clear the bases. That's the way the game's been rolling for us here. Those seeing-eye singles, those things will kill you, sometimes more than a homer."
Philadelphia added a run in the second when Cloyd walked with one out and scored on Mayberry's two-out double to right-center.
Brown hustled up a run in the third to increase the lead to 4-0. Brown singled with one out and stole second. After Delmon Young walked, Brown stole third and scored on Eric Kratz's fielder's choice.
Delmon Young hammered a 1-1 pitch from Peralta over the center-field wall with one out in the fifth for his sixth home run of the season to make it 5-0.
NOTES: With the 16th overall pick of the draft on Thursday, the Phillies selected SS J.P. Crawford of Lakewood (Calif.) High School. A relative of Dodgers OF Carl Crawford, the younger Crawford is committed to the University of Southern California. ... The Brewers didn't have a first-round pick due to the signing of RHP Kyle Lohse. With their second-round pick, the Brewers took RHP Devin Williams from Hazelwood High School in Florissant, Mo....The Brewers announced that reliever Tom Gorzelanny will start Saturday against the Phillies in place of Marco Estrada, who was placed on the 15-day disabled list Wednesday with a strained left hamstring. Gorzelanny is 1-0 with a 2.01 ERA in 24 relief appearances this season. Gorzelanny made his only start last season in his final appearance with the Washington Nationals after 44 relief appearances. ... Delmon Young's homer in the fifth inning was the 37th solo shot of the Phillies' last 45 home runs.
