The Milwaukee Brewers rely on right-hander Freddy Peralta and have a chance to secure the National League Central title when they host the Philadelphia Phillies on Wednesday in the finale of the three-game series between the division leaders.

Peralta (11-8, 3.75 ERA) will face right-hander Aaron Nola (12-8, 3.62).

Although the Brewers lost 5-1 to the Phillies on Tuesday night, their magic number dropped to 1 with the Chicago Cubs’ 4-3 loss to the Oakland Athletics. Bryce Harper and Nick Castellanos each hit a home run and Zack Wheeler allowed a run in seven dominant innings as the Phillies evened the series.

Since the Cubs have a day game on Wednesday, there is a chance that the Brewers (87-64) will get the win before the game even starts. Milwaukee is 10 games ahead of Chicago.

Brewers first baseman Rhys Hoskins played in the postseason in 2022, the last of his six seasons with Philadelphia, and acknowledged it is an unusual situation.

“It’s weird. I’ve never actually been in this position,” Hoskins said of the possibility of coming into the stadium as division champions. “The team I was on made the playoffs, we kind of had our destiny in our own hands and … we were able to secure the win because we won a game.”

“Obviously, tomorrow it’s not entirely in our hands given the schedule,” he said. “In our opinion, we still have to win games here.”

The Phillies (91-60) reduced their magic number to win the NL East to four and to one to secure a postseason spot. Philadelphia is two games ahead of the Dodgers and has the best overall record in the NL. Milwaukee is two games behind Los Angeles. The top two teams receive a bye in the first round of the playoffs.

Thanks to a three-game sweep in June, Philadelphia also secured the tiebreaker against Milwaukee.

“We really needed a win here,” Phillies manager Rob Thomson said. “We’re going to try to win the series (on Wednesday), but I think getting the tiebreaker against these guys is going to be huge down the stretch.”

Peralta picked up the win in his last appearance, allowing just one run in five innings in a 2-1 win at Arizona last Friday.

Peralta has a 4-2 record and a 2.84 ERA in his last seven starts. After pitching six innings in three of his five starts in August, his longest outing is 5 1/3 innings in three starts this month.

Peralta is 0-2 with a 4.01 ERA in six career games, including five starts, against Philadelphia.

Nola has won just once in his last 11 starts, and he is 1-4 since July 11. In his last start, he allowed six runs in 4 1/3 innings in an 11-3 loss to the Mets. In his three starts this month, he has allowed five home runs in 15 innings.

Nola is 7-2 with a 2.76 ERA in 13 career starts against the Brewers. He has faced Milwaukee once this season, throwing seven scoreless innings in the Phillies’ 2-0 victory on June 5.

Harper has hit three home runs in his last four games after going 30 games without hitting a home run.

With Tuesday’s win, the Phillies improved their record this season to 34-1 when a starting pitcher lasts at least seven innings, including 34 in a row. That’s the longest streak in Phillies history and the second-longest in major league history behind the 1942 Cardinals (42 in a row).

–Field level media