Final Score: Marlins 4, Phillies 3
Unsurprising, the Phillies have stumbled once again in Miami. The Phillies brought the go-ahead run to the plate twice in the ninth, but the offense couldn’t seem to come up with the timely hits when they needed them the most.
The lineup, which is still in the midst of an early-season funk, wasted another solid pitching performance from the bullpen. Andrew Bellatti, James Norwood, Brad Hand and Corey Knebel combined to throw 3 1/3 shutout innings in relief of Kyle Gibson. Bryce Harper drove in all three runs for the Phillies.
The Phillies started the first game of the road series strong, as Kyle Schwarber led off with a double and ultimately scored on a sacrifice fly by Harper in the top of the first inning. In the bottom of the inning, Gibson followed suit with three strikeouts to retire the Marlins in order.
Gibson was cruising through Marlins hitters, facing the minimum amount of batters until the fourth inning when he gave up a solo home run to Garrett Cooper, followed by a triple to Jesus Sanchez, a walk to Avisail Garcia, and a two-run double to Joey Wendle.
Gibson was pulled after 4 2/3 innings after walking two Marlins and allowing an RBI single to Sanchez. Bellatti was summoned to relieve Gibson and got out of the inning with the Phils down 4-1.
The Phillies offense threatened multiple times in the early innings, most significantly in the top of the fourth when the Phillies had runners on second and third with one out but failed to score. The offense turned around in the seventh as Alcántara was pulled after a hit-by-pitch to Vierling. Realmuto walked followed by a Harper two-run double to cut the Phillies’ deficit to one run.
Philadelphia did not start their seven-game road trip off with a bang, but they will look to even the series tomorrow. Zach Eflin will take the mound against Pablo López.
Shibe Vintage Sports Starting Pitching Performance
Kyle Gibson: 4 2/3 IP, 5 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 3 BB, 6 SO, 1 HR, 91 pitches
The right-hander’s sinkers worked well for the first three innings, and then the wheels fell off. Gibson surrendered his first runs, first walks, and the first home run of the season in the fourth inning. The real Gibson is probably somewhere between his relatively poor performance today and the masterpiece he tossed five days ago—he’s a good No. 5 starter, but he’s a back-of-the-rotation starter for a reason.
Sandy Alcántara: 6 1/3 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 5 SO, 95 pitches
Alcántara was shaky in the first inning, giving up a double and a single right off the bat but quickly settled down. The Phillies threatened with seven hits off of the Miami right-hander but never scored until after Alcántara had been pulled in the seventh inning and the inherited runner scored on Harper’s two-run double. All told a stellar performance from the 26-year-old.
Phillies Nugget Of The Game
Thursday marked the sixth time in his career Realmuto reached base safely at least five times in a game.
Ticket IQ Next Game
- Friday, Apr. 15 vs. Miami Marlins 6:40 p.m. ET
- loanDepot Park
- TV: NBC Sports Philadelphia
- Radio: SportsRadio 94 WIP
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