The Philadelphia Phillies' cold bats came alive on Sunday to overcome an early deficit and gain a series split against the Miami Marlins with a 7-6 victory that was anything but a defensive clinic. After only scoring eight runs in the previous 27 innings, the Phillies battled back thanks to multi-hit games from Trea Turner and Nick Castellanos.
Ranger Suárez was tasked with getting the Phillies back in the win column following a tough 3-2 loss on Saturday that saw the Marlins get to starter Aaron Nola in the seventh inning with the Phillies bats unable to answer the challenge. Suárez wasn't at his best in this one, lasting only 4 2/3 innings while allowing six earned runs, two walks and nine hits while throwing 91 pitches. The Phillies bullpen came in and stopped the bleeding with scoreless performances from José Ruiz, Seranthony Domínguez, Gregory Soto and Jeff Hoffman.
Phillies overcome unfortunate feat not seen in almost 20 years to split series
Sunday afternoon's victory over the Marlins was anything but a clean baseball game out in the field. The Phillies committed five errors in the game, the most by a Phillies team since May 17, 2005, in a 7-5 win over the St. Louis Cardinals.
Ranger Suárez (fielding), Nick Castellanos (fielding), Rafael Marchán (catcher interference), Alec Bohm (throwing), and Trea Turner (throwing) all made errors in this one but were luckily bailed out by timely hitting and four innings of magnificent work from the bullpen. Manager Rob Thomson addressed the defensive miscues when speaking to the media post-game, per The Philadelphia Inquirer's Alex Coffey.
“The five errors were all kind of weird,” Thomson said, per Coffey. “Ranger makes that play a thousand times. Nick bobbles the ball off the wall, which can happen. The throw from Turner is really a designed throw, it just popped out of Bohm’s glove. They’re all kind of weird. It’s not like five balls went through infielders’ legs or anything like that.”
Yesterday's gutsy win prevented the Phillies from a series loss against one of the worst teams in MLB. Considering the drop-off in offensive production with Bryce Harper, Kyle Schwarber, and J.T. Realmuto all sidelined by injuries, the game felt like a must-win situation with the Phillies heading on the road to face the Chicago Cubs and Atlanta Braves this week. This was certainly the textbook definition of an ugly victory.