Before this series began, I was concerned that the Phillies might overlook the Marlins. After all, this series falls in between matchups against potential playoff opponents in the Brewers and Mets. And over the years, the Marlins have often given heavily favored Phillies teams some trouble.
But through two games of the series, the Phillies just seem to be outclassing the Marlins. After Friday night’s nine-run outburst (and it really should have been more), the offense was more subdued on Saturday.
Thanks to a strong start by Jesus Luzardo and solid bullpen work, it was plenty to give the Phillies their second straight win over the Marlins, by a score of 4-2.
With Trea Turner getting a day off, Kyle Schwarber handled leadoff duties. He got on base in an unconventional manner, getting plunked (one of two beanings Schwarber received on the day) by Marlins starter Sandy Alcantara, and came around to score two batters later when Bryce Harper got all of one.
Friday night’s outburst was largely powered by their outfield, and in the fourth inning, the Phillies’ outfield triumvirate once again generated some offense. Brandon Marsh led off with a double, and Harrison Bader singled him home.
Max Kepler followed with a single of his own, and after an Edmundo Sosa infield hit, Bryson Stott brought Bader home via sacrifice fly. It looked like they had an opportunity to knock Alcantara from the game, but Schwarber and Alec Bohm were retired to end the threat.
Those unscored runs looked like they might bite the Phillies in the bottom of the fourth. Pitching against his former team, starter Jesus Luzardo ran into some awful luck. After an infield single that Bohm couldn’t convert into an out, Jakob Marsee hit a single to left field. The next batter hit a ground ball, and while the Phillies got one runner at second, they couldn’t finish off the double play.
Eric Wagaman blooped a double into left field to break up the shutout. Luzardo looked like he might work his way out of it by striking out Joey Wiemer. But another infield single, off the bat of Javier Sanoja, cut the lead to 4-2.
That was all the Marlins would get. Luzardo allowed a decent number of base runners, mostly due to walking four batters. But he kept working around them, largely due to eight strikeouts. All in all, a very strong outing for Luzardo.
The Phillies had a couple opportunities to add some insurance but were partly stymied by hitting into double plays in the fifth and seventh.
It didn’t matter. David Robertson, Matt Strahm, and Jhoan Duran pitched the final three innings, and the only hit they allowed – a double by Otto Lopez in the seventh – was erased when he was caught stealing third.
With the series victory in hand, the Phillies will go for a sweep on Sunday afternoon. Completing sweeps hasn’t always been easy for the Phillies this season but based on what we’ve seen from these two teams so far this series, there’s reason to expect them to finish the job this time.
