Just a little over 24 hours following the acquisition of third baseman Jake Burger, first baseman Josh Bell and pitcher Ryan Weathers, the Miami Marlins had a baseball game to play against the Philadelphia Phillies. After the Phils took both games one and two of the series, Burger and Bell played key roles in getting the offense going on Wednesday as the Marlins overcame a five-run deficit. Final Score: 9-8, Marlins.
Despite giving up three earned runs, this was a positive start for Garrett who went five innings, struck out five, walked two and gave up six hits. A big positive for Garrett tonight was the quality of his fastball. In his last start against the Tigers, he saw an increase in velocity, and he saw it again tonight in recording his highest average fastball velocity of his season.
“I think maybe a mile or so up,” said Miami Marlins manager Skip Schumaker following the game. “I think the blisters healed up which is obviously a good thing, but at the top of the zone, he’s ripping at the top. It’s a four-seam, no longer a two-seam or running it front hip.”
In terms of getting guys out, he was efficient through the first three innings of work. He ended the night generating 10 swing & misses.
As for the Phillies offense, they were able to get to Garrett in the fourth inning. Alec Bohm got the inning going with a base hit followed by a Bryce Harper double, his 18th of the season. Phillies All-Star Nick Castellanos drove in Bohm to give the Phillies an early 1-0 lead. The ball left the bat at 95.7 MPH and that was Castellanos’ 63rd RBI of the season. Bryson Stott, who was the hitter right after Castellanos, smacked an RBI single to drive in Bryce Harper and extend the Philadelphia lead, 2-0.
After Garrett walked Bryson Stott to kick-off the sixth inning, Marlins manager Skip Schumaker took Garrett out in place for Huascar Brazoban who ended up loading the bases and then walked former team Israel player Garrett Stubbs to extend the Philadelphia lead, 3-0.
Brazoban was able to strike out center fielder Johan Rojas and induce a Kyle Schwarber pop fly, but went on to give up an RBI double to Phillies third baseman Alec Bohm who drove in two more runs to extend the Philadelphia lead, 5-0. That was Bohm’s 68th RBI of the season, which left the bat at 81.9 MPH.
Up until the sixth inning, Phillies ace Zack Wheeler had shut down the Miami lineup, but the Marlins eventually woke up thanks largely to the combination of their key additions at the deadline as well as players who recently returned from injuries. Josh Bell, who was acquired from the Cleveland Guardians in exchange for Jean Segura and Kahlil Watson took Wheeler deep for his first home run as a member of the Miami Marlins and his 12th homer of the season.
Wheeler joins Patrick Corbin as the only other pitcher to surrender three home runs to Bell. The former All-Star also is the 19th player in franchise to hit a home run in their Marlins debut. The last player to do it was Jerar Encarnación last season, but last to do it in loanDepot park was Nick Fortes in 2021.
“New guys stepped up and stepped in,” said Schumaker. “You can see what that does to a lineup. It lengthens it out. Bell with four hits, Burger, couple big hits and hit by pitch and good defense.”
It didn’t take too long for Miami to tack on their second run of the ballgame. Jazz Chisholm Jr., who is playing in his second game since coming off the IL, took Wheeler deep for a 424 foot home run that left the bat at 110.8, which was the top exit velocity of the night. Phillies still lead, 5-2.
“Yeah, it was cool. I’ve never really been a part of any of those (dugout celebrations),” said Josh Bell following the game. “I’ve kind of just missed it with the teams I’ve been on. I’ve seen those from afar they look like a lot of fun. But it was great, and then it was over to get it all off and then pass it off to Jazz, but there’s no better feeling than that.”
In the eighth, Miami was able to score twice more. Drawing three walks in a row was the key to that rally.
In the ninth inning, instead of going to their All-Star closer Craig Kimbrel, the Phillies went with the surprising choice of Gregory Soto.He gave up the game-tying home run to none other than Jorge Soler, who’s been launching clutch bombs all season.
The paid part of this game was fairly intense, but the free baseball is where this game got weird. Miami went with newely acquired closer David Robertson who gave up a two-run home run to Phillies outfielder Brandon Marsh. He was able to get out of the inning after that, but the Phillies tacked on two runs to make it a 7-5 game.
In the bottom of the tenth, that is when Philadelphia decided to go with Kimbrel. Jazz, who was the placed runner on second, advanced to third because Kimbrel did an intentional balk. Something to note is the fact that Kimbrel doesn’t use PitchCom, preferring traditional signs from the catcher, so it could’ve been a case where he didn’t want Jazz to relay the signs. Avi Garcia grounded out, but Jazz scored to make it a 7-6 game.
Newest Marlin Jake Burger kept the inning alive with a base hit to set the stage up for Jesús Sánchez who smacked a double to put Burger at third and that’s when Skip went to his bench. Jon Berti, who has been Miami’s best hitter was pinch hitting for Nick Fortes who was in the nine whole and with one out, Berti hit a sac fly to drive in Burger and tie the game at seven apiece.
After the teams exchanged runs in the 11th, Miami took control in the top of the 12th inning, which is where Tanner Scott struck out Brandon Marsh and Garrett Stubbs followed by a Johan Rojas groundout to end the inning. The Marlins just needed to break the 8-8 tie instead of rallying from behind again.
The bottom of the 12th inning, the Phillies intentionally walked Avi Garcia, which brought up Jake Burger with runners on first and second with no outs. Burger was hit by a pitch to load the bases for Jesús Sánchez. He walked it off with an RBI single.
The Marlins now have one last game against the Phillies before heading off the Texas to face the top team in the American League West. Thursday’s game will begin at 12:10pm as Johnny Cueto takes the mound for Miami opposing deadline acquisition Michael Lorenzen.
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