The Marlins Won! At home, no less. And in the process broke a couple of streaks of futility. If one told you that Anibal Sanchez was on the the hill and the Marlins bested the Phillies, you would think that Anibal brought his "A"-game to the contest. That didn't happen. But the Fish worked around that to win in walk-off fashion in extra innings, and by one run. Yes, it was a strange night at the park. Let's get to it.
The Phillies scored two runs in each of the second and third innings to take a 4-0 lead. Note: the intentional walk of Ryan Howard didn't work again and the visit by pitching coach Randy St. Claire resulted in Anibal plunking Carlos Ruiz. In other words, business as usual. But then something strange happened--the Marlins answered back in the third by scoring three runs of their own. With one out Anibal singled to right. Emilio Bonifacio walked to put runners at first and second. Gaby Sanchez came to the plate with two outs and two runners on and hit a sharp liner to right which Domonic Brown misplayed to score both Anibal and Boni, putting Gaby at third. Hanley Ramirez followed with a swinging bunt to short to score Gaby for the third run of inning for the Marlins. Score: 4-3 Phillies.
The Phillies would extend their lead in the fourth when with two outs Jimmy Rollins homered to right, bringing the score to 5-3, Phillies. In the bottom of the inning the Marlins pinched-hit for Anibal, ending his night after four frames.
In the sixth, Brown led off with single to the outfield, which was misplayed, and it appeared the Phillies would start the inning with a man on third and no outs. However, Brown missed second when rounding the bases and the Marlins appealed to have Brown called out. John Mayberry was the next batter and he hit a line drive home run to left off Michael Dunn making the score 6-3 Phillies.
The Marlins once again got the bats going in the bottom half of the inning when Hanley singled to right and Logan Morrison followed with a home run to left center to cut the score to 6-5 Phillies.
In the seventh, the Marlins tied the score. Omar Infante led off with a triple. Gaby walked. And then Hanley hit a line drive to center to plate Infante. Score: 6-6 Marlins.
And there the score would stay until the tenth, when Mike Stanton lined a 2-1 curve ball just over the left field fence for the walk-off win. Final Score: Marlins 7, Phillies 6.
It was Stanton's first home run in 82 at-bats. Also, the win broke the six-game home losing streak of games that went into extra innings. Good times!