This one started with a Bryce Harper homer, of the two-run variety. The ball went off his bat, and towards center field in the space-age dome that is LoanDepot Park; Fish center fielder Jakob Marsee began to run towards it, then stopped. Perhaps he saw the inevitable, or perhaps he was distracted by the absence of the Red Grooms home run statue that had once graced the outfield. I will never forgive Derek Jeter for overseeing that change during his time as GM of the Marlins. That may not seem meaningful from a Philadelphia sports fan, but given that I was raised in a Yankees family in the Torre-led dynasty years, and still retain much affection for the pinstriped heroes of that era, I assure you that it is a serious criticism indeed.
Serious criticism, too, must be made of the Phillies defense, which had yet another ugly moment in this game. Otto Lopez, having made it to first by single, dashed for second. The throw from Realmuto was off, and bounced away from Bryson Stott’s glove, and to Trea Turner, who flung it wide of Alec Bohm. Lopez, having expected to burgle only a single base, found himself collecting much more, like a thief who breaks into a home to take perhaps a TV or a game console and instead finds a collection of Renaissance paintings. He scored, and so did Heriberto Hernández a moment later, when he sent a Zack Wheeler sinker soaring over the left field wall.
In the next inning, Griffin Conine sent a curveball barely over the right field wall, but fence-scrapers count the same as moonshots, and so the Marlins had a 3-2 lead. And not long after, it was 4-2, as Wheeler, plagued by unusually low velocity, continued to allow hard contact. Soon after that, it was 5-2, as Justin Crawford attempted a sliding catch on a ball from Otto Lopez that he couldn’t reach; Lopez ended up on third, though he was stranded there.
The Phillies put their first two batters of the fourth aboard, via single and walk. But J.T. Realmuto grounded into a double play, and a subsequent fly out ensured no runs would score.
Wheeler’s night ended after the third; Kyle Backhus was called in, and navigated his innings effectively. Meanwhile, the Phillies struggled to solve Marlins starter Tyler Phillips, posting just three hits through five innings. They reached the bullpen in the sixth, and soon started to put the Fish on the hook. Harper walked to lead off the inning, and scored on a Bohm single. A single from Stott and a ground rule double from Realmuto put the Phillies just one run back, and a single through the left side of the infield from Justin Crawford appeared to tie it— until it was determined that the ball, having slipped past the Marlins backstop, had lodged underneath the padding on the wall behind him. An illuminating conversation about ground rules ensued, and the result was that Realmuto was awarded home and the Phillies a lead.
They worked on adding to it in the eighth, when Bryson Stott led off with a triple, bouncing a ball off the right field wall and scampering to third as the Fish flopped around trying to get to it. He scored on a Realmuto sac fly.
Orion Kerkering took the eighth, allowing a leadoff single, and nothing else. Having come all the way back, the Phillies had earned the opportunity to let Jhoan Duran earn the save. He allowed a single up the middle to Jakob Marsee to start his attempt, then another to Otto Lopez, past the glove of a diving Harper. Lopez stole second, Duran hit the next batter, and the bases were loaded, with none away. The Marlins, riding a long losing streak, would either break it in spectacular fashion or continue it in an agonizing one. A Hernández hit up the middle tied the game, and Miami still had runners on first and second with none out. Then, after a bunt, the bases were loaded.
A 3-2 putout then put the game in that gloriously nauseous position where a single play could either doom the Phillies or redeem them; the next contact between bat and ball could be the game-winner sending Marlins fans happily to the exits, or the GIDP that sent the game to extras.
It was the former. Conine slapped one right over the glove of Stott, and the contest ended unhappily for the Phillies. The game was defined by uncharacteristic pitching from two of the Phillies’ very best. It can be hoped that the performances of Wheeler and Duran will be like the ball getting wedged under the padding: oddities that will not often recur.
The Phillies are 57-50, and will continue the series against the Marlins tomorrow at 6:40.
