Philadelphia, PA (SportsNetwork.com) – Martin Prado finished with three hits
and four RBI, while David Phelps turned in seven scoreless innings to lead the
Miami Marlins to an 9-1 win over the Philadelphia Phillies in Thursday’s
rubber match of a three-game series.
Phelps (1-0) was making his second start in place of the injured Henderson
Alvarez. He struck out five and yielded just three hits and two walks over his
95-pitch appearance.
The Marlins, who won the final two in the set to erase a five-game skid,
scored four runs in both the fourth and sixth innings. Adeiny Hechavarria
exploded for four hits, drove in three runs and scored twice, while Giancarlo
Stanton hit his fourth home run of the season.
“It was nice to see our offense come alive,” said Marlins manager Mike
Redmond. “We had some big hits … A lot of good at-bats today.”
Philadelphia gave the ball to reliever Dustin McGowan (1-1) after Sean
O’Sullivan was placed on the disabled list, and he struggled in his first
start since May 14, 2014, with Toronto. He was charged with four runs on three
hits and four walks in just 3 1/3 frames.
McGowan threw a 1-2-3 third inning and appeared to be settling in, so the
Phils tried to stretch him through another inning. He instead issued walks to
Michael Morse, Marcell Ozuna and Jarrod Saltalamacchia to load the bases, and
Hechavarria started the scoring with a two-run single to end McGowan’s day.
Hector Neris, making his first appearance of 2015, promptly hit Phelps
to reload the bases and Prado drove in two with a two-out single.
A day after committing three errors and allowing five unearned runs, the
Phillies’ defense made another key mistake.
With one out in the sixth and Hechavarria on second, shortstop Andres Blanco’s
throw to retire Dee Gordon at first was in the dirt and Darin Ruf could not
scoop it. Prado followed with a two-run double, and Stanton lined a two-run
homer just over the wall in left field to extend Miami’s lead to 8-0.
“We have to tighten up the defense,” said Phillies manager Ryne Sandberg. “We
can’t afford to make mistakes.”
The Marlins tacked on an insurance run in the ninth on another single by
Hechavarria, and Cesar Hernandez’s sacrifice fly in the bottom portion got the
Phillies on the board.
Game Notes
Miami finished its 10-game road trip with a 4-6 record … Miami’s Ozuna and
Ichiro Suzuki each extended hitting streaks against the Phillies to 12 and
11 games, respectively … Ruf hit two doubles, the hosts’ only extra-base
hits of eight total in defeat … Each team returns to the field Friday with
the Phillies hosting Atlanta for three and Miami welcoming Washington for
three.
