Myers tosses two-hitter as Phils sweep Brewers to grab share of wild-card lead

PHILADELPHIA -- Brett Myers received a standing ovation from the near-capacity crowd when he came to bat in the bottom of the eighth. The cheer grew even more deafening an inning later, when Myers got J.J. Hardy to fly to left for the final out.

Another September run has the Phillies in great position to make the playoffs.

Myers pitched a two-hitter and the Philadelphia Phillies moved into a tie for the NL wild-card lead, sweeping a day-night doubleheader from Milwaukee by winning the second game 6-1 on Sunday.

And with the Mets losing to Atlanta, Philadelphia moved within a game of the Mets in the NL East.

"Every night, there's somebody else picking us up," Phillies outfielder Shane Victorino said. "That's how you win a pennant."

Feelings were quite the opposite for the Brewers and Ryan Braun.

"This series was a complete and total disaster," said Braun, according to several media reports. "It couldn't have gone any worse. We couldn't have played any worse. They couldn't have played any better."

Pat Burrell homered and Victorino went 4-for-4 for the surging Phillies.

Myers was throwing strikes but the Brewers couldn't find any holes. He threw 95 pitches, 65 for strikes.

"They were real aggressive," Myers said. "I wasn't really looking for the strikeout. I wasn't trying to punch them out."

In the opener, Burrell snapped out of a recent slump with two hits, including the go-ahead single in the eighth inning, and the Phillies won 7-3.

Pitching on three days rest for the first time since Oct. 3, 2004, against Florida, Myers (10-11) gave up just a pair of hits while striking out four. Myers, who tossed his second complete game in a 95-pitch performance, is 7-2 with a 1.80 ERA in 11 starts since being recalled from the minor leagues on July 20. Myers also threw a complete game in a 4-0 win over Washington on Aug. 20.

It was the eighth complete game of Myers' career.

"The team needed it," said Myers, who threw first-pitch strikes to 17 of the 29 batters he faced. "I felt fine warming up. We'll see how it feels in five days."

Prince Fielder hit a solo homer for the Brewers, who have lost four straight and 11 of 14.

"Everybody's frustrated," Milwaukee manager Ned Yost said. "The off day will help us."

Philadelphia jumped out to a 6-0 lead with one run in the first, three in the second and two in the fourth.

With runners on first and third in the second, Myers helped himself with an RBI single to right, scoring Burrell. Myers was 3-for-53 this season before his at-bat and he picked up his first RBI in more than two years. Myers' last one came against Washington on May 30, 2006.

Jimmy Rollins followed with a two-run single, scoring Chris Coste and Myers, who barely eluded the tag of Milwaukee catcher Jason Kendall at home.

Burrell's 31st homer, a solo blast in the fourth off Jeff Suppan, pushed the lead to 5-0. Suppan later walked Jayson Werth with the bases loaded, scoring Victorino for the sixth run.

"We're playing good baseball right now and we're confident," Werth said.

Suppan (10-9) labored through 3 2/3 innings, giving up six runs and eight hits.

In the opener Sunday afternoon, Burrell singled to cap a four-run eighth inning.

"It's big. I can't lie," said Burrell, whose average had dipped to .250 before Sunday's first game. "I needed to get a hit in a situation with the game on the line."

Ryan Howard hit his major league-leading 44th home run and Victorino also connected as the Phillies beat the Brewers for the third straight time.

The Brewers are trying to avoid a repeat of last year's late collapse, when they built an 8 1/2-game lead in the NL Central in late June only to finish two games behind the Chicago Cubs. After Carlos Zambrano threw a no-hitter to beat the Astros, the Brewers were 7 1/2 behind Chicago.

Nine days ago, the Brewers were within four games of the Cubs.

"When you're struggling, things never seem to go your way," Yost said.

It was 3-all when Werth led off the Phillies eighth with a single against Guillermo Mota (5-6). Chase Utley followed with a sacrifice bunt and Howard was intentionally walked before Burrell singled off Brian Shouse. Victorino then hit a three-run homer to give the Phillies a cushion.

Scott Eyre (4-0) got two outs for the victory. Mota had his scoreless innings streak snapped at 14 1/3, spanning 16 appearances.

Joe Blanton overcame a shaky start to toss seven effective innings for Philadelphia. He gave up five hits and three earned runs and still has not lost since the Phillies got him from Oakland on July 17 -- he's 2-0 over those 11 starts.

"I just tried to be aggressive," Blanton said. "I left a couple balls over the plate in the first inning and the guys had good swings on me."

Game notes
Victorino's four hits were a season high. ... Myers reached double digits in wins for the fourth time in his career. ... The Phillies are a season-best 16 games above .500. ... In the opener, Hart thwarted a Phillies rally with a terrific catch in right field to end the fifth. Werth lofted a towering fly ball and Hart seemed to lose the ball in the sun before locating it and making a difficult catch as he fell to the ground. ... Utley was hit by a pitch for the 26th time, setting a team record. He leads the majors this year in HBPs. ... This was the first doubleheader featuring the Phillies and Brewers. Game 1 drew a crowd of 43,950, the 47th sellout this season. Game 2 attracted 39,776, just shy of a sellout.

Information from The Associated Press contributed to this report.