Franco homers twice as Phillies beat Brewers

MILWAUKEE - The improbable happened on the 149th try, in the fifth inning of the 17th game. Odubel Herrera ripped a single to center. Freddy Galvis slashed a triple to right. Maikel Franco crushed a high fly that plopped just beyond the left-field wall.

The Phillies had done it. For the first time in 2016, they scored three runs in an inning.

Remember a 5-2 Phillies win Friday over the Brewers for an veritable offensive explosion. These Phillies are challenged - their .271 on-base percentage entering Friday ranked worst in baseball - but they are only one game below .500. String a few hits together, and things look a little easier.

Ask Aaron Nola, who pitched with a lead for the first time in two weeks. He was not sharp at the beginning; a walk to the second batter resulted in a first-inning Milwaukee run. But Nola retired 16 of the final 17 hitters he faced. With some room for error, Nola attacked.

So did Franco, who homered twice. Before the win, Phillies manager Pete Mackanin lamented that none of his batters were "really locked in." Play the Milwaukee Brewers, a rebuilding team much like the Phillies, and that can change.

Franco can relax.

"He needed that," Nola said. "We know he's going to do that."

"I've been in a tough slump," Franco said. "For me, I'm just trying to get out of there and get out of there really good. Just go out there and try to enjoy the game and have fun."

Mackanin has preached aggression all season. When asked Friday afternoon if the lackluster production forced a revision of that strategy, he disagreed.

"Once you tell players to start taking more pitches," Mackanin said, "then you take the aggression out of hitting. That doesn't work."

The manager stood up from behind his desk in the visiting clubhouse at Miller Park to demonstrate a hitting lesson.

"You should take a pitch like this, like you're going to hit it," said Mackanin, as he mimicked a batter's stance and pumped his front leg. "You watch our guys, and they'll take a pitch like this, like they were taking all the way." He stood still.

Point made.

"I don't want to stress being less aggressive to have a higher on-base percentage," Mackanin continued. "If you're looking for a fastball and a guy hangs you a slider, you have to capitalize on it. If you're not aggressive, you're not going to do it."

Franco embodied his manager's words. The Phillies solved Zach Davies, a lithe former 26th-round pick with a 19.29 ERA, in the fifth inning. During batting practice, Mackanin encouraged Franco to think more about pulling the ball.

The third baseman took a first-pitch change-up. Then, Franco bombarded a hanging Davies curveball that landed at a ballpark restaurant in left. The two-run shot pushed the Phillies' lead to three runs - the largest cushion yet for Nola.

In the seventh, Franco opposed veteran lefty Chris Capuano and took the first two pitches. He pelted a fat slider to deep left-center, over the Brewers bullpen.

"It was a good pitch to hit," Franco said. "When they make a mistake, I have to just put good contact on it."

Before his three-hit night, Franco was 3 for his last 30 with 10 strikeouts, one walk, and no extra-base hits. He had adopted Mackanin's aggressive approach to an extreme in the last week, shouldering the burden of an inept offense with each imposing swing and a miss. He is not the first 23-year-old hitter to try to do too much with one swing, and he will not be the last.

What makes him special are the nights like Friday, when Franco ditched failure and destroyed two breaking balls.

mgelb@philly.com

@MattGelb