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Source: FanGraphs
Attendance: 28.872
Hero of the Game: None
Goat of the Game: Brian Flynn (-0.290 WPA)
Play of the Game: Chase Utley singled to left field in the third inning. Cesar Hernandez scored. Jimmy Rollins advanced to third base. Utley advanced to second base on the throw. (-0.159 WPA)
While tonight's game between the Philadelphia Phillies and the Miami Marlins was closer than yesterday's blowout, the Fish still felt out of it until the latter stages of the game. And just like yesterday's game, the reason for that was a Chase Utley three-run homer. Utley launched a shot in the fifth inning to put this game seemingly out of reach for Brian Flynn and the Marlins, though the team clawed back to get within two runs.
Flynn began the night looking good, as he struck out four in the first four innings with only one walk allowed. Unfortunately, the third inning went poorly, as he allowed four straight singles to drive in two runs for the Phillies. The only reason he was able to escape with just three runs allowed was due to the presence of the pitcher at the plate for one out and a passed ball that turned into a nice play by Ed Lucas to throw out Carlos Ruiz attempting to advance two bases. Other than that, Flynn did very little on his own that inning.
But despite the six runs allowed, Flynn's night was not terrible. He struck out six total with just one walk and the lone home run. He forced 10 swings and misses in 84 pitches. He threw only 27 balls versus 17 called strikes, yielding a nice ratio of 1.6-to-one. Were it not for the unfortunate timing of the three-run shot, Flynn's night might have looked much better.
The offense certainly bent the increasingly broken-down Roy Halladay, but he did not break against Miami. He did walk three versus striking out just two with his decreased velocity, but the Fish could only score one run on four hits. The team failed to take advantage of a nice evening by Christian Yelich, who went 3-for-4 with a walk. Indeed, the Marlins had one fewer hit than the Phillies but only began taking advantage late in the game, when they put up two runs on B.J. Rosenburg and company in the eighth, followed by scoring one run on closer Jonathan Papelbon.