GAME
RECAP: Marlins Silence Phillies 6-0
A couple of regulars returning from injury helped the
Marlins finally have some answers for Phillies right-hander Jeremy
Hellickson. Marcell
Ozuna and Justin Bour were
back in the lineup, and the two contributed at the plate in Miami's 6-0 win
over Philadelphia at Marlins Park on Wednesday night. Ozuna had a double and a
single and scored twice, while Bour singled and had a productive out that
helped set up a run in the second inning. Backed with some early support, Andrew
Cashner tossed
5 1/3 strong innings and collected his first victory since being acquired by
the Marlins from the Padres in late July. "It's a different feeling, for
sure, and you forget what it looks like," Marlins manager Don Mattingly
said of Bour and Ozuna returning. "J.B. has been out so long. It just
changes things around." Bour was making his first start since July 2, when
he sustained a right ankle sprain, and Ozuna had been out since Aug. 31 with a
bruised left wrist. "Honestly, you can't ask for much better," Bour
said. "I was able to go out there and put together some quality at-bats
and just help the team." Martin Prado and Christian
Yelich added
back-to-back RBI doubles in the seventh inning to break open a six-run lead.
The Marlins' 10th shutout of the season snapped their five-game losing streak
and moved them closer to .500 (69-71) as they look to make a late charge and chip
away in the National League Wild Card chase. Miami sits five games behind St.
Louis for the second spot. Hellickson was 2-0 with a 2.13 ERA in four starts
against the Marlins this year before he allowed four runs (three earned) on
nine hits with one strikeout in six innings. "He threw OK. Just wasn't as
sharp as he has been most of the year," Phillies manager Pete Mackanin
said. Ichiro Suzuki had two hits, giving him 3,021 in his
MLB career, which moves him into 26th place all-time, ahead
of Rafael Palmeiro (3,020), according to Elias Sports
Bureau.
PHILS PHACTS:
- Just like
Tuesday night, the Phillies opened the game with their first two batters
reaching base. However, that's where the similarities ended. While both
scored Tuesday to help lift the Phils to a 4-3 win, this time both Cesar Hernandez,
who singled, and Aaron
Altherr, who reached on a fielder's choice, were
stranded. The Phils entered Tuesday with only 46 runs scored in the first
inning, the lowest total in the Major Leagues. "It's
frustrating," Mackanin said. "We've been going through that for
quite a while. We just need to be better at it. The categories in hitting,
we're at the bottom: slugging, doubles, hits, runs. There's your story
right there."
- Left-handed
reliever Patrick
Schuster made
his Phillies debut in the seventh inning, facing three batters, two of
them lefties. After walking the first batter he faced on four pitches,
Schuster settled down to retire left-handed Dee
Gordon and Ichiro. Getting out
left-handed batters is likely the role Schuster will have in
Philadelphia's bullpen. "He's funky," Mackanin said. "I
asked [catcher A.J.
Ellis] what it looked like from behind the plate. He
said, '[Schuster] could be tough on lefties.' It boils down to throwing
strikes. I'm happy I got to see him. Down the stretch, I'm going to try to
see him a little bit more. We need a situational lefty."
- The Eastern League named Reading outfielder Dylan Cozens, the Phillies' No. 7 prospect according to MLBPipeline.com, as the league MVP on Wednesday. The 22-year-old Cozens hit .276 with 40 homers and 125 RBIs. He also scored 106 runs and had a .591 slugging percentage. Cozens led all Minor League players in homers and RBIs this season, and is just the second Phillies Minor League player since 1963 to reach 40-plus home runs. Ryan Howard accomplished the feat with 46 homers in 2004. In addition, first baseman Rhys Hoskins was named the Eastern League Rookie of the Year, while Dusty Wathan earned Manager of the Year honors. Hoskins hit .281 with 38 homers and 116 RBIs.
NEXT
GAME:
Alec Asher takes the mound in the opener of a
four-game series at Washington on Thursday at 7:05 p.m. ET. Called up on
Tuesday, Asher is making his first big league start of the season after going
0-6 with a 9.31 ERA in seven starts last season with the Phillies.
PHILS PHACTS:
Costly Mistakes – Phillies
starter Jeremy
Hellickson had
pretty much owned the Marlins' lineup until a 6-0
loss in Wednesday night's series finale at
Marlins Park. Hellickson was 2-0 with a 2.13 ERA over four starts against Miami
this season. He had allowed just 19 hits and six runs over 25 1/3 innings while
striking out 17. But Wednesday was a different story. Hellickson gave up nine
hits over six innings, allowing four runs (three earned). He struck out just
one. The Marlins managed to salvage one of the three games in the series,
scoring a run in each of the first two innings to put the pressure on a
Phillies team struggling to score. In the first, Hellickson gave up a one-out
triple to Ichiro
Suzuki, who scored the first run of the game, and then
yielded a leadoff double in the second inning to Marcell
Ozuna, who also scored. "I made too many mistakes
early in the count, especially the first couple of innings; one to Ichiro just
a lazy changeup, and Ozuna the next inning, you can't give up extra-base hits
to lead off innings," Hellickson said. In four previous starts in Miami, Hellickson
was 0-0 with a 2.49 ERA, and over eight previous career starts, Hellickson was
2-1 with a 3.00 ERA against the Fish. He struck out 33 and walked 12 in 48
innings. "You've just got to battle," Hellickson said. "Not
every game's going to go how you want it. You've got to just keep grinding,
keep making good pitches. Tonight was an example of that." He yielded
single runs in the fifth and sixth innings against the team with which he has
somewhat of a history. "It's my fifth start against them [this year],"
he said. "So I have an idea what I want to do, they have an idea of what I
want to do. I just left too many balls up there early in the game." But
the Phillies didn't offer up any help offensively. They were shut out for the
ninth time this season, and fourth over their last 15 games.
A Little Rest – Maikel Franco was
not in the Phillies' starting lineup on Wednesday night at Marlins Park. The
24-year-old slugging third baseman, a cornerstone of Philadelphia's rebuilding
process, needed a break perhaps physically as well as mentally. Franco jammed
his wrist swinging the bat during his second plate appearance in Tuesday's 4-3
win over the Marlins. He didn't take batting practice before Wednesday's game,
but remained available for pinch-hit duty, according to Phillies manager Pete
Mackanin. It's the first game Franco has not started since late July. Andres Blanco, who was activated on Friday from
the 15-day disabled list with a fractured left index finger, took Franco's
place at third base. Blanco was originally placed on the DL on July 25 and
hadn't played since. It marked Blanco's 29th start this season, and 10th at
third base. He started 13 games at second base, five at shortstop and one at
first base. "I'm just going to back off, just to let this settle down on
his hand and to give him a blow, because he's obviously pressing, getting a
little frustrated," Mackanin said of Franco's day off. Franco is 0-for-8
over the first two games of the road trip in Miami, and has gone hitless in
five of his last eight games. Struggling during the recent stretch, Franco is
hitting just .182 in his last 33 at-bats. He's still the power hitter the Phils
are looking for at the hot corner. Franco leads the team with 22 homers, 73
RBIs, 44 extra-base hits and 212 total bases. He's the first Phillies third
baseman to hit 20 homers in one season since Scott Rolen (25) in 2001. However,
things have not been going well lately. Franco hasn't hit a home run since Aug.
18, and he has just one RBI in his last 14 games, with an extra-base hit in
just one of those games.
Today
In Phils History – Former Phillies Joe Oeschger stuck out 3 Phillies
on 9 pitches in 1921 while with the Braves but the Phillies storm back in the 9th
with 8 runs to win the game. 5 years later, for the 3rd time in his
career, Cy Williams hit a two out game winning grand slam. In 1954, Richie
Ashburn fouled off 14 full count pitches before earning the walk against the
Reds. In 1963, Warren Spahn reached the 20 win mark in a win over the Phillies
for the 13th time in his career and, in the process, set the record
for the oldest pitcher to reach the milestone (43). Juan Samuel hit his 7th
career leadoff homerun in 1987 setting a new franchise record. With his debut
in 1996, Calvin Maduro became the 1st native of Aruba to pitch in MLB.
2 years later, 3 different Phillies (Rico Brogna, Kevin Sefcik, and Bobby
Estalella) hit 2 homeruns against the Mets with Marlon Anderson also going deep
during the contest in his 1st MLB at bat and setting a new team
record for homeruns in a single game (7). The Phillies beat the nationals 5-3
in 2009 with all of their runs coming from solo homeruns to set a new franchise
mark. 4 years later, Cole Hamels surrendered 2 hits over 8 innings with both
being homeruns by the Braves Evan Gattis (the 1st traveling a CBP record
486 feet). Other notable debuts on this day include Jason Grimsley (1989), Kim
Batiste (1991), and Marlon Byrd (2002).
THE BEGINNING:
The
Phillies are currently 62-77 this season putting them on pace to beat most
preseason predictions. All time, the Phillies are 62-50-0 on this day. I expect
the Phillies to finish in the bottom half of the division but not last in the
NL East by finishing the season with a 77-85 record.
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