Phillies once again struggle to hit, close out the Marlins

Final Score: Marlins 3, Phillies 2

Aaron Nola was one out away from putting himself in line for his 100th career regular-season victory, but the Miami Marlins once again struck with two outs to take the lead in the seventh inning.

Nola, like his teammate Zack Wheeler, was a strike away from completing seven innings, but a two-out double from Marlins catcher Nick Fortes tied the game. Just like Thursday, Matt Strahm was tasked with getting the Phillies out of the seventh, but a Jazz Chisholm Jr. RBI single gave Miami the lead. As if it wasn’t already deja vu, all of the damage from Miami came with two outs. The Marlins, who won their 30th game of the season on Saturday, scored a combined seven runs in the last three innings of Thursday’s game with two outs.

At least this one didn’t end with two devastating injuries.

The Phillies are also feeling the impact of not having Bryce Harper, Kyle Schwarber and J.T. Realmuto in the lineup. They have combined to score four runs in the last two games and are also struggling to hit balls over the wall. Garrett Stubbs homered in the third inning, but him and Rafael Marchan, both catchers, are the only two players to have homered for the Phillies since June 26.

The 2-3-4 hitters, Trea Turner, Alec Bohm and Brandon Marsh, went 0-for-10 with a walk and a sacrifice fly.

Highlights

• Stubbs tied the game for the Phillies in the third on his first home run of the year and first since the hangover game in Sept. 2023.

• The Phillies had a chance to take the lead in the fourth with two in scoring position and one away. Edmundo Sosa lined one back to the mound that deflected off the glove of the pitcher Muñoz, but the runner at third Nick Castellanos was not going on contact and hesitated. The next batter Stubbs hit a lineout to second that was caught in the air by Otto Lopez to end the inning.
• Alec Bohm later drove in a run on a sacrifice fly to left field in the fifth to give the Phillies a 2-1 lead.
• Home plate umpire Nate Tomlinson was giving pitchers the corners all day long, but Nick Castellanos had the right to be frustrated with this called third strike.

Notes

• The Phillies came into the series 44-2 when leading after six innings. They are now 45-4 after two late-inning defeats against Miami.
• Bryson Stott reached base safely three times for the first time since June 18.
• The Phillies have lost multiple games in a single home series for the first time since the April 11-14, four-game set against the Pittsburgh Pirates. Philadelphia opened up the regular season losing at least two games in each of the first three home series and haven’t lost multiple games in a series at Citizens Bank Park until this weekend. They are now 32-13 at CBP in 2024.
• Here’s an interesting stat from Paul Casella of MLB.com on the lack of hard-hit balls from the Phillies on Saturday:

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