Phillies can’t muster another late-inning comeback, fall to Marlins again
Vince Velasquez had a better day at the plate than on the mound Friday. (JCS/Icon Sportswire)
Final: Marlins 6, Phillies 2
Following two consecutive emotional walk-off victories, the Philadelphia Phillies (43-39) were in need of another great performance to keep their momentum fueled by a lucky bamboo plant from Chinatown going. Tonight, however, there wasn’t enough bamboo magic to go around as the Phils suffered a 6-2 defeat at the hands of the last place team in the National League East, the Miami Marlins (31-49).
During the Mets series, the Phillies made a habit of falling behind early. The trend flew south with the team as the Marlins got on the board first in this ballgame. Clean-up hitter Brian Anderson smacked a middle-in fastball over Scott Kingery’s head in center field for an RBI double, scoring Harold Ramirez and giving the Marlins a 1-0 lead:
The Fish struck again in the bottom of the fourth and once again, Anderson was the man to do the damage. After a Garrett Cooper double, Velasquez fell 3-0 to the Oklahoma native. Anderson was gifted a hanging slider and drove the ball just inside the right field foul pole for a two-run home run:
The Phillies had gone hitless through four. That all seemed to change in the fifth as the bottom of the order stepped up. With one out, Maikel Franco erased the zero from the hit column with a stand-up double. Starting pitcher Vince Velasquez followed that up by erasing the donut hole in the run column with his first career home run. It was a towering shot that floated over the left field fence and into the first few rows. Velasquez will leave Miami with a very cool souvenir:
The adrenaline rush Velasquez likely was on after the home run may have affected his command in the next half inning. With one out and two runners on, Garrett Cooper hit a sharp ground ball that skipped past Jean Segura at short. Ramirez scored again from second and the Marlins added on another:
The Marlins increased their lead again in the bottom of the seventh. Once again, J.T. Riddle homered against Phillies pitching and Garett Cooper knocked it another RBI to expand the lead to four:
Unfortunately for the Phillies, they were not able to manufacture a late-inning comeback as they did in every game of the Mets series. With Zach Eflin on the mound tomorrow, the team hopes to at least give themselves a chance to take two of three from the lowly Marlins.
On a more positive note, Tommy Hunter made his first appearance of the season in the eighth after being reinstated from the 60-day IL earlier today. He set down the 5-6-7 hitters in order and looked to be in mid-season form. Hunter is a key arm in the Phillies bullpen and if healthy, could find himself consistently being called upon by Gabe Kapler in high-leverage situations.
Shibe Vintage Sports Starting Pitching Performance
- Vince Velasquez: 4.1 IP 6H 4R 4ER 2BB 6K
- Elieser Hernandez: 5.2 IP 3H 2R 2ER 2BB 7K
Phillies Nuggets Player of the Game: Brian Anderson
Brian Anderson may be another Phillie killer in the making. He came into this game with a career .290 average with 5 home runs 15 runs batted in 31 career starts against the Phillies. 3 of those homers were hit this season, with one of those coming in last Sunday’s matchup in Philadelphia. His 3 RBI game proved to be enough to get his team another key victory against the only NL East side the Marlins have a greater than .500 record against.
Ticket IQ Next Game
- June 28th @ 4:10 vs. Miami Marlins
- NBC Sports Philadelphia
- SportsRadio 94 WIP; WTTM 1680 (Spanish)
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