Velasquez failed to go three innings in tonight’s outing. (JCS/Icon Sportswire)
Final score: Marlins 19, Phillies 11
All was well at first. The Phillies jumped out to a seven run lead. Starter Vince Velasquez looked ready to throw another quality start. It looked like a game the Phillies would cruise easily to victory, reassuring their fanbase that they can handle a bad team like the Marlins this time around and make a serious run for the last wild card spot. Then the Marlins put up seven in the third to tie. By the end of the sixth inning, the Phillies found themselves down by six. They ended up losing this game by a touchdown and a two point conversion. Any momentum gained from the Red Sox series is now squandered. In a season filled with bait-and-switch moments, this seems like the ultimate one.
On the first pitch of the game, Cesar Hernandez laid down a beautiful bunt down the third base line. After Rhys Hoskins was hit by a pitch, J.T. Realmuto would line a double into the corner in left to score Hernandez and give the Phillies a 1-0 lead. The next two hitters, Corey Dickerson and Jean Segura, failed to get both Hoskins and Realmuto home. With two outs and both Hoskins and Realmuto in scoring position, Scott Kingery would split the gap in right-center field for his second triple of the season:
They don’t call him JETPAX for nothing!
pic.twitter.com/9zLMKnTHTM— Phillies Nation (@PhilliesNation) August 23, 2019
More runs came in the second. Hoskins started the inning with a walk. Realmuto then notched his second double of the night. Dickerson would then bring both guys home with a double of his own, giving the Phillies a commanding 7-0 lead. Another run was added on a perfectly executed suicide squeeze from Velasquez:
Half of CD’s 14 hits this month have been extra-base hits.
pic.twitter.com/91V9nekaVb— Phillies Nation (@PhilliesNation) August 24, 2019
One of ugliest innings of Phillies baseball immediately followed the early offensive explosion. Velasquez cruised through the first two innings, even going into the third without allowing a hit. He began the inning by hitting the lead-off hitter Lewis Brinson with a 94 MPH fastball. After a flyout and a miss-play by Brad Miller that was scored a single, the Marlins would get their next seven hitters on base and put up a seven spot on the Phillies. The big blow came when Isan Diaz got a hold of a high fastball, pulling it down the line in right for a long, game tying home run:
A terrible ending to what looked like a promising outing at first.
pic.twitter.com/WX8fterRNp— Phillies Nation (@PhilliesNation) August 24, 2019
The game wouldn’t remained tied for long as the Phillies would put up two more runs in the top half of the fourth. Maikel Franco, who was pitch hitting for Brad Miller, brought home Jean Segura from second with a RBI single. Adam Haseley would continue the two-out rally with another RBI single, stretching the Phillies lead to two.
The Phillies two-run lead wouldn’t last much longer either as the Marlins would once again come back to tie the game. This time, the Fish would also claim the lead. With the bases loaded and two outs in the bottom of the fifth, Franco mishandled a ground ball of the bat of Starlin Castro. Two runs scored to make it a 9-9 ballgame. Miami would take the lead just not long after on a double down the line in right from Neil Walker. Curtis Granderson would follow up with an RBI single, giving the Marlins a 12-9 lead:
At one point, the Phillies had a seven run lead. #goodtimes
pic.twitter.com/8wUP0P6uPQ— Phillies Nation (@PhilliesNation) August 24, 2019
The Marlins would add on three more runs in the sixth and four more in the eighth. With the exception of two ninth innings runs that came via RBI walks, the Phillies offense would go silent for the rest of the night.
Shibe Vintage Sports Starting Pitching Performance
Hector Noesi: 3.0IP, 6H, 7R, 7ER, 3BB, 2SO
Vince Velasquez: 2.1IP, 5H, 7R, 7ER, 1BB, 2SO
Phillies Nuggets Player of the Game: Isan Diaz
Every position player in the Marlins starting nine is deserving of this nod. To come back by seven runs in such a short amount of time is impressive. To put up 19 runs in a game in which you were trailing by seven is a whole different story. The honor will go to Diaz as his three-run home run in the bottom of the third was probably the most important hit of the game and the first indicator of just how ugly this game was going to get.
Ticket IQ Next Game
- 6:10 P.M. vs. Miami Marlins at Marlins Park
- NBC Sports Philadelphia
- Sportsradio 94 WIP; WTTM 1680
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