There are worse things than a loss in an already-won series on a sleepy Sunday. Unfortunately, the Phillies have now learned this firsthand. The loss to Miami today is not likely to be terribly damaging. The loss of Trea Turner, who strained his right hamstring running to first in the seventh inning, may be.
The Marlins went with an opener in the form of Tyler Phillips, a former Phillie now calling Miami home (this is referred to as a Reverse Realmuto). The Phillies countered with Taijuan Walker,
who carried an odd streak into today’s contest: in his past six starts before today, and in order from oldest to most recent, he had allowed zero, one, two, three, four, and five earned runs. He was thus on pace to allow six today. And although this pattern was pure randomness, without any real meaning behind it, it did look as if it might continue: in the first, Walker allowed two quick baserunners on singles, then tossed a slider to Otto Lopez that caught too much of the heart of the plate and was quickly sent over the left field fence of LoanDepot Park for a 3-0 Marlin lead. Walker couldn’t steady himself, and soon allowed another run with more base hits and a throwing error from Brandon Marsh. By the end of the first, all nine Marlins had stepped into the batter’s box, and seven of them had reached base, five on hits.
The Phillies began to claw back in the second. Marsh worked a walk, and soon scored when Nick Castellanos tripled on a ball that bounced pass a diving Fish in center field. Walker limited the damage to a single baserunner in the second. Phillips’ opening duties wrapped up mid-third, with Cade Gibson being called in to handle his fellow lefty Kyle Schwarber; the latter lined out.
Harper doubled to start the fourth; he didn’t hit the ball particularly hard, but he was ambitious on the basepaths. His zealousness wasn’t punished there thanks to a bad throw from right, but he paid a price soon after, as Alec Bohm hit a grounder right behind him as he took a lead from second, and was soon tagged out. Marsh singled to get first but was picked off, and Castellanos struck out on a checked-swing call that he strongly objected to.
The Phillies had begun warming up Max Lazar in the first, but his Sunday turned out to be a quiet one: Walker had steadied himself following that dismal first, and allowed no runs in his next four frames. What had initially looked like it would be a battle of the bullpens thus returned to the plan as scheduled, as the Marlins worked through their bullpen and the Phillies got a proper start, albeit a flawed one, from Walker. The Phillies failed to crack Gibson, but did damage against his replacement, Calvin Faucher, as Turner hit a solo shot in the top sixth to cut the lead to two, Schwarber worked a walk, and Marsh stroked a groundball right past the shortstop to cut the lead to one.
In the seventh, the Phillies made two quick outs before things slowed down considerably. Bryson Stott, hellbent on making it to first, forced Marlins hurler Michael Petersen to toss pitch after pitch, fouling off six straight before earning a free pass on the 11th pitch. Turner hit what ought to have been an inning ending ground out, but a bad throw from shortstop bounced off the glove of Troy Johnston at first and seemingly went out of play, hitting the top of the padding on the first base line. The joy at this fortuitous mishap was short-lived: Turner immediately walked off the field, sensing that he had incurred an injury that would end his day (later announced to be to be a strained right hamstring). The Marlins successfully challenged the call that the ball had gone out of play (per the universal ground rules: “Batted or thrown ball resting on the rotating signage behind home plate or along first base or third base stands is in play”). Schwarber flew out to end the inning, and the Phillies were thus left with a missed opportunity, an education in an obscure application of the major league rules, and a sense of anxiety regarding the health of their shortstop.
Walker’s improbably long day ended after the sixth, with José Alvarado the replacement. In a case of dreadful symmetry, his first inning shared a similarity with Walker’s: a home run to Lopez, though this time only a solo shot. Unlike Walker, he wasn’t given the chance to rebound, being pulled quickly for Orion Kerkering, who got the final out of the inning without delay.
Brandon Marsh doubled in the eighth, his third hit of the day, though he was stranded. Tim Mayza was tasked with handling the home half of the inning, and ran into trouble, loading the bases with only one out. He struck out a Marlin to get the second out, and was then pulled for Lou Trivino, who got a K of his own to end the inning.
The Phillies entered the bottom of the ninth down 5-3. Max Kepler was first up, working a walk. Next was J.T. Realmuto as a pinch hitter, who did the same. Stott attempted to bunt, but popped out foul instead. Harrison Bader, pinch hitting as well, lined out. That left the Phillies hopes in the mighty hands of Kyle Schwarber. He took the first three pitches for balls, the next two for strikes, then smacked the ball to right for an RBI single. The next Phillie in line for the role of hero was, like Schwarber, well-suited for it: Bryce Harper. But today, he was mortal. He grounded out, and the game ended.
The Philies are 83-60. Next up is a four-game series against the Mets in Philadelphia, starting tomorrow at 6:45.
