Phillies survive with fatigued bullpen, defeat Marlins
Zack Wheeler pitched well and the Phillies received some timely hitting Friday, surviving a shaky, fatigued bullpen late to extend their win streak to four. They defeated the Miami Marlins at loanDepot park by a final score of 6-5.
After making two quick outs in the bottom of the first, the Marlins struck first against Wheeler. Otto Lopez drove a ball deep to center field, which at first appeared to be a home run. But replay review revealed that a leaping Justin Crawford had pushed the hit over the fence with his glove, and the play was corrected to a ground rule double. Nevertheless, Lopez scored one batter later when Xavier Edwards hit an RBI double down the right field line, putting Miami up 1-0.
Wheeler prevented further damage from there, allowing the Phillies to take the lead in the fourth. With one out, Brandon Marsh scorched a ball off the right field wall, but hit it hard enough towards right fielder Owen Caissie that he was limited to a long single. He advanced to second anyway on a wild pitch by Eury Pérez. After an Edmundo Sosa walk and a Bryson Stott walk, Alec Bohm hit an RBI single to center field, tying the game at 1. Crawford then lined a double to right field, driving in another run to give the Phillies a 2-1 lead.
It was a promising start for Wheeler, his second in the big leagues since returning from thoracic outlet decompression surgery. Wheeler pitched six innings of one-run ball, allowing three hits and two walks, striking out eight.
The Phillies offense had chances to add on further, but did not ultimately do so until the seventh. Bryce Harper hit a one-out double, advancing to third on an Adolis García groundout. Marsh was hit by a pitch, then Sosa singled, scoring Harper and making it a 3-1 game. The next batter, Stott, gave the Phillies much-needed insurance. In a lefty-on-lefty matchup against Miami reliever Cade Gibson, Stott hit a three-run home run to put the Phillies up 6-1. It marked Stott’s first home run of the season.
Marsh exited the following half inning with a bruised right elbow resulting from the hit-by-pitch. He was replaced by Dylan Moore in left field.
The Marlins offense climbed back against a Phillies bullpen still fatigued from Thursday’s doubleheader. Jonathan Bowlan and José Alvarado threw a combined 41 pitches to complete the eighth inning. They allowed three runs in the process, all charged to Bowlan. A 6-1 game quickly became 6-4, with the potential tying Marlins runs at second and third with two out. But Miami first baseman Christopher Morel struck out on three pitches against Alvarado, halting the rally momentarily.
The ninth inning was equally dramatic. Brad Keller walked Marlins nine hitter Javier Sanoja on four pitches to lead off the ninth. He struck out Jacob Marsee on a close full count check swing call, then struck Kyle Stowers out looking on a full count, the latter resulting in the ejections of both Stowers and Marlins manager Clayton McCullough. With two outs, Sanoja stole second and was singled home by Lopez to make it a 6-5 game. A wild pitch by Keller then sent the tying run to second. But Edwards lined out sharply to Crawford in center field for the final out, sealing a stressful Phillies win.
The Phillies and Marlins play the second of this four-game series Saturday afternoon. Andrew Painter starts for the Phillies after being pushed from his originally scheduled start Thursday. Right-hander Max Meyer gets the ball for Miami. First pitch at loanDepot park is scheduled for 4:10 p.m. ET.