Phillies Drop Second Game of the Series to the Marlins (Literally), 6-1

As the game started in Philadelphia, we saw something from Cole Hamels that we hadn’t seen in some time; a solid first inning.  Cole started the game strong with two strike outs and a walk to Giancarlo Stanton.  The offense started hot again with Odubel Herrera singling in the lead-off spot, and another hit from Chase Utley for the half inning.  The Phillies ended the inning, stranding two runners on base with one in scoring position.

Cole came out in the 2nd inning hoping for the same success.  He started out the inning giving up a single and a strike out, before giving up a walk to Ichiro Suzuki.  After Miami worked runners to first and third in the inning, Chase showed outstanding hustle to make a nearly impossible play on a ball that goes in and out of Hamels’ glove to give up a run on an error, making the score 1-0 Miami.

After giving up the run to Miami, Hamels was able to recollect and ground out Dee Gordon to finish off the 2nd inning and keep damage to a minimum.  To lead off the bottom of the 2nd inning, Cody Asche tried to single-handedly ignite the offense by hitting a lead-off home run and tying the score at 1-1.  Following that hit, the Phillies offense was unable to keep the bats going, and went 1-2-3 for the rest of the inning with two ground outs and a fly out.

Cole takes care of business with a twelve pitch inning in the 3rd, retiring the side in order, which was mirrored by Jarred Cosart who shut down the Phillies offense for the bottom of the 3rd, 4th, and 5th innings until the Phillies got another base runner in the bottom of the 6th inning on a triple from Ben Revere.

Cole Hamels was able to finish off the top of the 6th inning and leave the game with a no-decision.  He pitched for five strike outs, three walks, and five hits, while only giving up one run (not earned).  Of course, the error was charged to Cole on the first Miami run in the 2nd inning.

There was a slim chance for the Phillies to take the lead with two outs in the 6th inning after Ben Revere got his triple, leaving scoring the run up to the slumping Chase Utley who ended up striking out to end the inning and keep the game tied at one.

Luis Garcia came in for the Phillies to pitch the 7th inning.  Garcia has been a strong asset in the Phillies bullpen, pitching 8.0 innings with six hits, eight strike outs, and one earned run.  Garcia was charged with a balk in the inning, which lead to a run scored by Adieny Hechavarria from third to put the Marlins on top 2-1 in the top of the 7th inning.

The Phillies went on to face A.J. Ramos in the bottom of the 7th inning, who picked up three strikeouts in a row against Carlos Ruiz, Cody Asche, and Ryan Howard.

Ken Giles came out to pitch for the Phillies in the top of the 8th inning and popped out the first two batters of the inning before giving up two singles in a row to Ichiro and Hechavarria.  In a recurring theme of balls bouncing off gloves and errors, Chase missed the third out of the 8th inning on an easy toss from Freddy Galvis, which ended up loading the bases for Dee Gordon.   Herrera had a miscue trying to get the Phillies out of the inning after a fly ball dribbled off the end of his glove allowing three runs to score and make it 5-1.  The final run for the Marlins came right after the error by Herrera, when Martin Prado hit a double to drive in Dee Gordon from third base and make the score 6-1, Miami.

After a single by Grady Sizemore in the bottom of the 8th inning, the Phillies were unable to get the bats going again for the rest of the game, going down in order in the bottom of the 9th inning.  Jake Diekman finished off the 9th inning for the Phillies and Steve Cishek closed out the game for the Miami Marlins.

Join the Phillies tomorrow for the final game of the series at 1:00 pm EST at CBP.