Phillies put on historic power performance, pushing Fish to brink of elimination

The notion of the 2025 Miami Marlins as a playoff team has always felt like a pipe dream. However, a well-timed winning streak still kept them mathematically alive in the pursuit of the National League's third Wild Card spot entering play on Wednesday. That in itself has made their season a success considering the non-existent expectations.

Looking to keep the dream alive, the Fish turned to Ryan Weathers in just his eighth start of the season and third since returning from a left lat strain that cost him three months.

In keeping with the theme of inclement conditions—rain forced Tuesday's opener into an hour-plus delay—Weathers cast a dark cloud over his club's October aspirations, surrendering five runs over 4 ⅔ innings, including three home runs allowed in Philadelphia's 11-1 rout over Miami. The Phillies, deploying a Bryce Harper-less and J.T. Realmuto-less lineup, hit a franchise record eight home runs on the evening, a mark that also stands as the most allowed in a single game by Miami pitching. 

After the Marlins got out to an early 1-0 lead in the second, courtesy of an Eric Wagaman RBI single, the Phillies' power barrage commenced. Kyle Schwarber, one of the top NL MVP candidates, blasted his 55th home run of the season over the center field wall of Citizens Bank Park to even the score in the bottom of the third.

Edmundo Sosa, Philadelphia's utility infielder, tacked on his first of three home runs on the evening in the fourth, only to be followed by a Bryson Stott blast two batters later.

"I thought for the most part he threw well," manager Clayton McCullough said of Weathers. 

Sosa became just the seventh player with a three-homer game against Miami, and first since Shohei Ohtani's historic three-homer, ten-RBI game that saw him become the first member of the 50/50 club on September 19 last season. Bryce Harper had one of the six prior such games against the Marlins in his MVP-winning 2015 season. 

Putting the game firmly out of range for the Marlins to mount a comeback, there was a four-home run bottom of the seventh that saw Schwarber hit his second of the evening, and 56th of the season, inching himself within two home runs of Ryan Howard's franchise record 58 in 2006. Howard would go on to be named the league's MVP that season.

Lost in the sounds and images of balls caroming off the bleacher seats was the outing put forth by a former Marlin, Jesús Luzardo, who fired seven innings of one-run ball. In the process, Luzardo became the fourth Phillies pitcher with a start against the Marlins of 10 strikeouts, zero earned runs, zero walks, joining current teammates Aaron Nola (2020) and Zack Wheeler (2021), and also the late Roy Halladay (2010).

Looking Ahead

The Marlins will close out their season series against the Phillies on Thursday. Janson Junk (6-3, 4.27 ERA) will oppose Walker Buehler (9-7, 5.13 ERA) in the finale. In his previous outing on September 19, Junk held the Rangers to one run over seven innings.

First pitch from Citizens Bank Park is slated for 6:05 EST. For the Marlins to still have a pulse in the Wild Card race by then, they will need the Arizona Diamondbacks to lose their Thursday afternoon contest to the Los Angeles Dodgers.