Phillies Smash Floundering Fish
By Matt Veasey
82. 6. 6. Final. 2
For at least one night, the Phillies ran into a team that made them look good. The host Miami Marlins got poor pitching, played sloppy defense, and generally displayed all-around bad baseball in a 6-2 loss to the Fightin’ Phils at Marlins Park in South Florida.
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It was the first game under full-time, permanent manager Pete Mackanin, who after 76 games had the “interim” title removed from his job description earlier in the day by team president Andy MacPhail.
The Phillies delivered 11 hits for their new field general, the first time in 7 games that they’ve reached that level, and scored 6 runs for just the 5th time in 19 September games.
On the mound, starting pitcher Aaron Harang delivered his best performance since limiting the same Marlins team in the same ballpark exactly a month ago. In both Tuesday’s performance, and back on August 22nd, Harang (6-15) held the Fish to just 2 earned runs on 7 hits across 7 professional innings.
The Phillies built a 4-0 lead over the first 5 innings against Marlins’ starter Tom Koehler. In the 1st, Aaron Altherr doubled with one out, and was followed by an Odubel Herrera walk. The two then pulled a double-steal, with Altherr scoring on Marlins’ catcher J.T. Realmuto‘s throw trying to nail Herrera at 2nd.
In the 2nd inning, a two-out, two-run single by Freddy Galvis put the Phillies up by 3-0. Then in the top of the 4th, Cody Asche led off with a solo homer, his 10th of the season, pushing the lead out to a 4-0 margin. Koehler (10-14) allowed the 4 runs, 3 of those earned, and 7 hits across 5 innings before being lifted for a pinch-hitter in the bottom of the 5th.
Darin Ruf led off the top of the 7th with his 9th home run of the year, a solo shot off Chris Narveson to make it a 5-0 game before the Fish broke through in the bottom with a 2-run homer from Miguel Rojas to cut the Phillies lead to 5-2.
With reliever Raudel Lazo on the mound for the Marlins in the top of the 8th, Asche smashed his 2nd homer of the game, his 11th of the season, pushing the lead out to the 6-2 final score. The defeat was a 4th straight for the Marlins who lost for the 7th time in their last 10 games. The victory snaps a 6-game losing skid for the Phils.
Despite the win, the Phillies ‘Magic Number’ to clinch the first overall pick in the 2016 MLB Amateur Draft was reduced to 7 thanks to a win by the Atlanta Braves. With David Buchanan taking the hill on Wednesday, the Phils have a good shot to reduce it even further on their own.