MILWAUKEE – Blake Perkins is the least used player on the Milwaukee Brewers’ roster, a light-hitting outfielder who woke up Sunday morning batting .113 with no home runs. But when the Brewers posted their lineup for the day’s series finale against the Phillies, Perkins was in it. Why? Because he was 4 for 4 with a pair of doubles lifetime against Phillies ace Cristopher Sánchez. Sánchez’ weeks-long run of outstanding pitching came to an end in a 4-0 loss to the Brewers at American Family Field. The left-hander gave up a leadoff home run to Jackson Chourio in the first inning. Three innings later, he surrendered a three-run homer to Perkins with two outs in the bottom of the fourth and the Phillies were on their way to losing two of three to the NL Central-leading Brewers. Entering the game, Sánchez had only allowed four home runs in 14 starts this season. He had pitched seven or more innings in seven straight starts, recording a glistening 0.51 ERA over that span, was lifted after giving up a two-out double to Perkins – that guy again – in the sixth. In all, Sanchez allowed eight hits, four for extra bases, and four runs, one more than he gave up in his previous seven starts. “They were all giving me trouble,” Sánchez said of the Brewers’ hitters. “Everything was off, especially my energy, not to use that as an excuse. I tried to battle.” Why was Sánchez’ energy down? “I didn’t have the best sleep last night,” he said. “Only that. But no excuses.” The Brewers’ swings indicated that Sánchez’ overall stuff was down and the metrics confirmed it. His fastball, which averages 95.1 mph, was down a tick to 94.8. He threw a first-pitch strike to just 12 of 25 batters. While Sánchez was having one of those days, Milwaukee lefty Kyle Harrison pitched six shutout innings. Much attention goes to fire-balling Jacob Misiorowski on the Milwaukee staff, but Harrison, added in a wintertime trade with Boston, has been exceptional. He is 8-1 with a 2.47 ERA. Misiorowski, of course, blitzed the Phillies in Friday night’s series opener. He gave up just one hit while striking out 15 and facing the minimum 27 batters. He lowered his ERA to 1.34, the best in the majors. Sánchez came into Sunday’s start with the second-best ERA in the majors at 1.54. It rose to 1.82. There are still a few weeks before the NL starter for the All-Star Game is announced – and many miles to go in the Cy Young race – but Misiorowski is probably the guy to beat on both fronts after this weekend. “Who doesn’t want to win a Cy Young or go to the All-Star Game?” Sánchez said. “At the end of the day, I just try to do my best and those decisions are out of my control. Right now, I’m just focused on helping this team.” Offensively, it was a feast or famine weekend for the Phillies. They had 17 hits in their only win Saturday night. In their two losses, they had a total of five hits against Milwaukee’s two best starters. In the bigger picture, the Phillies have struggled against first-place teams. That’s troubling for a club with bigger aspirations than just playing in October. The Phils have now lost series to Milwaukee, Cleveland, Atlanta (two series) and the Dodgers. All are first-place clubs. They did beat the Chicago White Sox, who are tied for first place in the AL Central, in a series. Catcher J.T. Realmuto had three hits, including a homer, and four RBIs, in Saturday night’s win. He had a pre-planned off day Sunday and was not in the lineup. Rafael Marchan was paired with Sánchez for just the third time this season. Opposing hitters are batting .313 (21 for 67) against Sánchez with Marchan behind the plate. They are hitting .197 in 12 starts with Realmuto behind the plate. (Realmuto caught each of Sánchez’ previous seven starts.) Garrett Stubbs has caught Sánchez once, April 23 against the Cubs. Sánchez was tagged for a season-high 12 hits in 5 1/3 innings in that game. Sánchez clearly has a strong chemistry with Realmuto. “He’s been in the league for over 10 years,” the pitcher said. He added that he did not believe pitching to Marchan affected his performance Sunday. Manager Don Mattingly shot down the idea that using Marchan affected Sánchez. “That had nothing to do with it,” he said. Realmuto will be back behind the plate Monday night when the Phillies open a three-game series against the Miami Marlins at Citizens Bank Park. The Phils went 3-3 on the trip to Toronto and Milwaukee. They are 38-33 on the season and 29-14 since Mattingly took over as manager. It will be interesting to see if Trea Turner is in the lineup Monday. His struggles deepened over the weekend. He went 1 for 13 with six strikeouts in the three games. His batting average and on-base percentage have dropped to .219 and .269, respectively. Asked if might give Turner a day off, Mattingly said, “It’s something we’ll look at and talk about.” Turner is understandably frustrated. “It feels like I’m missing every possible pitch I could miss, no matter what approach I try,” he said. “I’m not getting the job done. The last two or three weeks, I feel like I’ve been pitched really tough. But in this series, I got some pitches to hit and fouled ‘em off. That’s why it’s frustrating. Missing mistakes is not acceptable.” ...read more read less