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Brewers complete sweep of Phillies

The finale of a four-game series at Citizens Bank Park between baseball's two worst teams needed extra innings to decide.

Milwaukee Brewers' Gerardo Parra slides past Phillies' catcher Cameron Rupp in the first-inning on Thursday, July 2, 2015 in Philadelphia. (Yong Kim/Staff Photographer)
Milwaukee Brewers' Gerardo Parra slides past Phillies' catcher Cameron Rupp in the first-inning on Thursday, July 2, 2015 in Philadelphia. (Yong Kim/Staff Photographer)Read more

The finale of a four-game series at Citizens Bank Park between baseball's two worst teams needed extra innings to decide.

Three hours and 57 minutes after it began, the battle of ineptitude ended with the Phillies again coming out on the losing end.

An 8-7 loss in 11 innings to the Milwaukee Brewers, the Phillies' fourth consecutive defeat and 28th in 36 games, cemented the team's worst record at the season's midway point since 1997. A mere 27 wins through 81 games puts the Phillies on pace for a 54-108 season, and their roster figures to get only worse after the July 31 trade deadline.

"We have to play better baseball," shortstop Freddy Galvis said. "We have to keep fighting and keep playing hard."

Through 26 series, the Phillies have already been swept seven times. Thursday marked not only the Brewers' first sweep of the season but the first time they've ever swept the Phillies in a four-game set. They arrived in town Sunday with only two games separating them from baseball's worst record.

The Phillies' loss came despite a 16-hit performance.

They battled back with a three-run seventh inning to even the score, and five scoreless frames from their bullpen gave them plenty of chances to pull ahead.

But in the 11th, with righthander Luis Garcia on the mound, Brewers catcher Jonathan Lucroy led off with a double. After advancing to third on a Ryan Braun groundout, Lucroy scored when Adam Lind drove a first-pitch fastball back up the middle.

The Phillies, playing their last home game until July 17, once again found themselves in an early hole. A night after Aaron Harang surrendered eight earned runs on 14 hits, Chad Billingsley gave up six earned runs on 10 hits. The 30-year-old righthander, making his first start since May 15 because of a lat strain, struggled through five innings, only one of which was scoreless.

"I just had trouble putting guys away," he said. "I was getting ahead of some guys and just couldn't do it. Overall, my fastball command, I thought, was pretty good. It was just secondary pitches I wasn't locating quite as well. That will come each time I get out there. I've just got to keep going back out there every fifth day."

The offense bailed out Billingsley. Cesar Hernandez walked and managed three more hits, which made it all the more puzzling when he struck out in the eighth on a failed two-strike sacrifice-bunt attempt.

Odubel Herrera, back in the leadoff spot for the night, recorded three hits of his own, as did Galvis and Cody Asche, who smacked a two-run home run in the second inning.

Despite a great series at the plate, the Phillies' overall offensive statistics through 81 games remain unsightly.

Their 275 runs are the franchise's fewest through 81 games since 1972, a season which they finished 59-97.

They haven't hit this few home runs (50) at the midway point since 1991.

There has been only one season since 1914 in which the Phillies' on-base percentage through 81 games was lower than the .294 mark they sport now. It was the 1942 season, when they lost 109 games.

Only the 1920 and 1921 seasons saw them walk fewer times than the 181 they have worked thus far.

Staggering numbers aside, it's the starting pitching staff that has been the bigger problem in recent weeks.

Billingsley's five-inning outing Thursday marked the 13th time in 16 games a Phillies starter had failed to log at least six innings.

The offense's double-digit hit performance, meanwhile, was the team's seventh in its last 13 games.

"It was disappointing to lose, but there are a lot of positives that came out of that," Phillies interim manager Pete Mackanin said. "It was great to see these guys swing the bats, and hopefully that's an omen for the future."

@jakemkaplan