DUESSELDORF, Germany (AP) — Xabi Alonso and Bayer Leverkusen have experienced almost everything soccer has to offer over the last year. Having to rebound from a loss, not so much.
Leverkusen goes into Saturday's game against Hoffenheim having lost its last league match 3-2 to Leipzig. It was the first Bundesliga game Leverkusen had lost since May 2023.
Alonso said Friday he was trying to restore concentration and focus that seemed to be lacking in a game where Leverkusen had 27 shots but Leipzig's sudden, incisive counterattacks made the difference.
“We need to have better control when we don’t have the ball,” the coach said Friday. “We have to be stable without the ball, we have to be aggressive, not too passive. I think we conceded chances too simply and that is a football topic but also a mental topic, too.”
Leverkusen's unbeaten run last season was no ordinary streak. So often did Alonso's team score late goals to save a point or win a crucial game that it began to feel inevitable, even like part of their identity — like a Hollywood director whose movies all feature improbable final-act twists.
Leverkusen's unbeaten run in all competitions ended at 51 games when the team lost to Atalanta in May in the Europa League final. Its unbeaten record in German competition hit 15 months before the loss to Leipzig, including the only unbeaten Bundesliga season by any team in history.
The recent international break means Alonso and his team have had two weeks to mull over the Leipzig loss ahead of the away game at Hoffenheim — and a Champions League visit to Feyenoord on Thursday — but there's been little face-to-face contact between Alonso and his many players on international duty.
“It’s express preparation, express conversation,” he said. “It’s not so many things but there are important things to improve. We had enough time to analyze and to show that and to discuss how we can do that better, so hopefully we have a better, more complete performance.”
Alonso had words of support for defender and vice-captain Jonathan Tah, who was substituted at halftime in Germany's 2-2 draw with the Netherlands on Tuesday after struggling at times to deal with the Dutch forwards.
Tah is a “top player” who returned to the club with a positive attitude after the game, Alonso said.
Like Leipzig, Hoffenheim is another team that Leverkusen beat implausibly late last season.
Back on March 30, Hoffenheim was on course for a 1-0 win that would have shocked European soccer. But then Robert Andrich scored in the 88th minute and Patrik Schick in the 91st, and Leverkusen won 2-1. It was just another gravity-defying feat in a season that was full of them.
AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
Leverkusen's Florian Wirtz (l-r), Victor Boniface and Jonathan Tah stand on the pitch after the Bundesliga soccer match between Bayer Leverkusen and RB Leipzig at the BayArena, in Leverkusen, Germany, Saturday, Aug. 31, 2024. (Federico Gambarini/dpa via AP)
MILWAUKEE (AP) — Bryce Harper hit a tiebreaking two-run homer in the sixth inning to back up the strong pitching of Zack Wheeler and the Philadelphia Phillies beat the Milwaukee Brewers 5-1 on Tuesday night in a matchup of division leaders.
Nick Castellanos added a solo shot and Trea Turner went 3 for 5 to help the Phillies move closer to wrapping up the NL East title while delaying the Brewers’ NL Central championship celebration.
The Brewers’ magic number dropped to one with the Chicago Cubs’ 4-3 loss to the Oakland Athletics. The Phillies lowered their magic number for clinching the NL East to four, though their magic number merely to reach the postseason is down to one.
Philadelphia's victory Tuesday gave the Phillies (91-60) the tiebreaker advantage over the Brewers (87-64) as they jockey for potential playoff seeding.
“We needed a win here for sure,” Phillies manager Rob Thomson said. “We'll try and win the series tomorrow, but just getting the tiebreaker over these guys I think is going to be huge coming down the stretch.”
Wheeler (16-6) allowed only four hits and one run in seven innings while striking out six and walking none. Wheeler, who lowered his ERA to 2.56, has worked at least six innings while giving up no more than two runs in each of his last nine starts.
“I just try to go six or seven every time, at least that,” Wheeler said. “If I go more, that's awesome. Try to do that, save our bullpen. It adds up over the season, where they get those innings saved in the bullpen. We need them for this stretch right now.”
Wheeler's 16 wins rank him second in the NL to Atlanta's Chris Sale, Wheeler's main competition for the Cy Young Award.
“He's the Cy Young, man," Harper said. “I said it out there. I don't think anyone in baseball is better than him at this point. I don't think anybody in the National League is, either. People down in Atlanta probably think the same thing about the guy throwing down there. I thought he got robbed of it three years ago (when Wheeler finished second to Corbin Burnes). I believe he earned it this year.”
The score was tied at 1-all until Harper sent a 1-1 pitch from Frankie Montas over the wall in left-center for his 29th homer of the season. Harper’s two-run shot also scored Kyle Schwarber, who led off with an infield single.
Montas (7-11) struck out 10 batters in 5 2/3 innings while allowing three runs, six hits and two walks.
Philadelphia extended the lead to 4-1 in the seventh as Schwarber hit a ball that went off a leg of pitcher Aaron Ashby and headed into shallow right field for an RBI single after Edmundo Sosa's leadoff double.
Turner added a two-out RBI single in the ninth.
“They’ve got two of the best power hitters in the game and a couple of other guys who are among the top hitters in the game, so you can’t give them anything," Brewers manager Pat Murphy said. "You have to keep the pressure on, and we couldn’t do that.”
Castellanos led off the second inning with a 430-foot drive over the wall in left-center for his 21st homer of the season. The Phillies put runners on first and second later in the second before Montas struck out Cal Stevenson to end the inning.
The Brewers tied it in the fourth, as William Contreras singled and scored on Garrett Mitchell’s triple to right center, but the Brewers stranded Mitchell at third.
TRAINER'S ROOM
The Phillies reinstated Sosa from the 10-day injured list and optioned IF Buddy Kennedy to Triple-A Lehigh Valley. In another move, the Phillies sent C Aramis Garcia outright to Lehigh Valley after he cleared waivers. Garcia had been designated for assigment Sunday.
Manager Rob Thomson said OF Austin Hays ran at full intensity Tuesday for the first time since going on the injured list with a kidney infection on Sept. 5. Thomson said the infection has gone away.
UP NEXT
RHP Aaron Nola (12-8, 3.62 ERA) pitches for the Phillies and RHP Freddy Peralta (11-8, 3.75) starts for the Brewers when this three-game series concludes Wednesday night.
AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/MLB
Philadelphia Phillies' Bryce Harper is congratulated by Nick Castellanos after hitting a two-run homr run during the sixth inning of a baseball game against the Milwaukee Brewers Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)
Milwaukee Brewers' William Contreras hits a single during the fourth inning of a baseball game against the Philadelphia Phillies Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)
Philadelphia Phillies' Kyle Schwarber hits an RBI single during the seventh inning of a baseball game against the Milwaukee Brewers Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)
Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Matt Strahm throws during the eighth inning of a baseball game against the Milwaukee Brewers Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)
Milwaukee Brewers' Garrett Mitchell reacts after hitting an RBI triple during the fourth inning of a baseball game against the Philadelphia Phillies Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)
Milwaukee Brewers' Garrett Mitchell hits an RBI triple during the fourth inning of a baseball game against the Philadelphia Phillies Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)
Milwaukee Brewers' Jackson Chourio hits a single during the sixth inning of a baseball game against the Philadelphia Phillies Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)
Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Zack Wheeler throws during the first inning of a baseball game against the Milwaukee Brewers Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)
Philadelphia Phillies' Bryce Harper reacts after hitting a two-run homr run during the sixth inning of a baseball game against the Milwaukee Brewers Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)
Philadelphia Phillies' Bryce Harper hits a two-run homr run during the sixth inning of a baseball game against the Milwaukee Brewers Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)
