Phillies get ugly but effective series win against Marlins
By Mason Baylis
It wasn’t pretty, but the Phillies were able to get a much-needed series win against the Marlins to take hold of the NL East.
Heading into their weekend series against the Marlins, the Phillies had won just two of their seven previous games. After a weak performance against the rival Mets, they needed to get back on track against the weaker Marlins.
The club didn’t start the series strong as they lost to the Marlins in 10 innings 3-1. Aaron Nola got back on track in his season performance allowing only one run in 6.2 innings of work. Nola was able to command his pitches much better in the game, which of course contributed to his success.
The offense was completely shut down this game only recording four hits compared to the Marlins’ 12.
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Philadelphia ended up sending Hector Neris back out in the top of the 10th where the Marlins scored 2 runs, and in the bottom of the inning, the Phillies were unable to score any runs. The Marlins took Game One, which definitely was cause for concern, but Philadelphia would bounce back Game Two.
Jerad Eickhoff took the mound Friday night and he pitched one of his better games as a Philadelphia Phillie.
Eickhoff tossed seven shutout innings and giving up just two hits. The offense woke up from a quick drought to rack up four runs, with the help from a towering Bryce Harper home run into the second deck.
As for Game Three, no team should have won the game. Philadelphia jumped out against the Marlins in the short-lived return of Jean Segura before he was hit in the head by a pitch, scoring four runs in the second inning. They added five more in the bottom of the fifth to make the score 10-1 heading into the top of the sixth.
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While it seemed to be complete domination of the Marlins, Jake Arrieta decided to make it interesting by loading up the bases in the sixth, which the Marlins turned into four runs. Then Philadelphia let up two runs in both the seventh and eighth innings with help from their bullpen.
Thankfully, Rhys Hoskins added some safety to the one-run lead by hitting a two-run home run in the bottom of the eighth. It was his eighth home run and 21st and 22nd RBI of the year.
Game Four provided arguably the best starting pitching performance of the season courtesy of Zach Eflin, who pitched a one-run complete game.
Eflin got just enough run support, mostly from singles and some small ball, helping the team take the series finale.
Philadelphia had a bounce-back series which was huge in taking first place in the division. The series also showed how important these Marlins series are to the team because whichever NL East team is able to get the most wins against them will overall help them take first place.
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They will get a well-deserved day off after 17 straight games before facing the Detriot Tigers at home.