Marlins 10, Phillies 5; resilient bats bail out Ureña in biggest comeback win of 2018

On a day when José Ureña didn’t know where his fastball was going and put the team in a big hole, the Marlins...won??!

Yes, 10-5 the final score in Sunday afternoon’s beating of the first-place Phillies.

• José Ureña: 4.0 IP, 4 H, 5 ER, 4 BB, 4 K (88 pitches)
• Enyel De Los Santos: 4.1 IP, 7 H, 5 ER, 1 BB, 2 K (79 pitches)

It looked like the game was over right there. The Marlins had not rallied to win from a five-run deficit all season.

But De Los Santos unraveled in the bottom of the fifth.

Cameron Maybin ignited the scoring with a 429-foot home run to left-center, his second-longest of the Statcast era. The official Marlins Twitter account seized the opportunity to make a reference to The Sandlot on a day when they were celebrating the movie’s 25th anniversary:

The Fish followed with a single, another single, Brian Anderson’s three-run home run and a J.T. Realmuto hit by pitch. That sequence forced Gabe Kapler to go to his bullpen, hoping to preserve what remained of the 5-4 lead.

The new pitcher, right-hander Edubray Ramos, failed to calm things down. The Marlins would bat around and then some. Miguel Rojas’ two-run single put them in front for the first time, and by the time Derek Dietrich was retired to end the inning, the scoreboard read 8-5.

Recently recalled Javy Guerra continued to impress with 1 ²⁄₃ innings of hitless ball. There wasn’t much drama with Adam Conley or Ben Meyer either in what, amazingly, turned out to be a comfortable win.

The Marlins scored double-digit runs for only the fourth time this season, but three of those four offensive explosions have been in July. Dating back more than a month, they’ve won eight of their past 12 series. That’s high-quality performance over a pretty big sample!

Fish Stripes original GIF

Frankly, I did not expect to see a stretch like that at any point in 2018 given the organization’s lack of talent and experience.

The club’s run differential suggests some regression is coming, and that’s without even factoring in possible veteran subtractions prior to the July 31 trade deadline.

Regardless, I believe I speak for many of you by declaring this first half a modest success. (Please feel free to disagree in the comments.)

Courtesy of FanGraphs

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Matchup Summary

It had been somewhat of an unlucky first half for Trevor Richards, putting his spot in the Marlins major league rotation in some jeopardy moving forward. But Richards made a compelling case to stick around with six scoreless innings pitched on Saturday. The Marlins became the first Aaron Nola opponent since May 20 to tag him with a losing decision.

These NL East rivals have split their eight matchups so far this season, although the Phillies hold a huge 41-19 edge in runs. That differential is mostly owed to a 20-1 blowout in early April.

José Ureña looks to finish off a quietly productive first half. Already the Marlins’ 2018 leader in starts and innings pitched, Ureña can move ahead of Caleb Smith in strikeouts with a typical performance on Sunday (currently trails 88 to 85).

Young right-hander Enyel De Los Santos makes just his second career appearance following a dominant run at Triple-A. The Phillies are batting a starting pitcher in the No. 8 spot for the 19th time this season. Only the Mets have used that lineup approach more often among MLB teams.

Thread Question: The trade market typically heats up during the All-Star break, so get your predictions in now—how many major league players will the Marlins trade before the July 31 non-waiver deadline?