MIA 4, PHI 7: Fish Lose Jazz and Coop, Drop 3-of-4

In the span of less than an hour and twenty minutes, the Marlins would lose a game and their starting second baseman. All in all, the Fish would exit Sunday two games worse than they entered it, dropping the finale of the 4-game set 7-4.

Picking up a 2-2 game originally suspended Saturday night due to prevailing rains across the Northeast, former Marlins’ catcher J.T. Realmuto slugged the Phillies to victory with a walk-off home run in the bottom of the 10th inning in a 4-2 final.

Come the bottom of the 1st in the originally scheduled afternoon game, and the Marlins would experience another blow, this time when second baseman Jazz Chisholm had to be removed from the game following an awkward dive on a Bryce Harper bloop that fell for a base hit. It would later be confirmed that Chisholm suffered a left shoulder contusion.

Things would look up for Miami, though, however, as the team overcame an early 2-0 deficit with a 4-run third inning, highlighted by Adam Duvall’s 20th home run of the season off team-ace Zack Wheeler. Wheeler entered Sunday’s outing with a 1.74 ERA in 16 career starts against the Marlins dating back to 2013.

But while the 3rd inning provided a sense of encouragement for the Fish, the Phillies would scratch back over the next two innings.

Braxton Garrett, who started in place of the injured Pablo López, lasted just 4.1 innings before an Andrew McCutchen solo home run knocked him from the game, cutting the deficit to 4-3. Reliever John Curtiss would retire first baseman Rhys Hoskins before surrendering a game-tying home run to Didi Gregorius.

Wheeler would recover from a rough third inning to give the Phillies 6 innings, striking out 7 en-route to his 7th win of the season.

Miami called upon Anthony Bender in the 6th, though, a Jorge Alfaro passed ball facilitated what would be another multi-run inning for Philadelphia. After starting his big league career having allowed no earned runs over his first 21.1 innings pitched, Bender has gone on to allow 8 earned over his last 10 innings pitched (7.20 ERA) since June 29th.

The Fish would be dealt another blow on the injury front Sunday as Garrett Cooper - starting at first base - would exit in the bottom of the 8th following what manager Don Mattingly confirmed was an elbow injury. Per original reports, Cooper wasn’t initially listed as a starter for Sunday’s game.

“We’ll do some tests when we get to D.C., but right now, we just don’t know,” noted Mattingly postgame. The Marlins will open a three-game set against the Nationals in Washington on Monday.

Having lost 3-of-4 in Philadelphia, the Marlins will look to regain some momentum in Washington Monday in what is a scheduled bullpen game. Mattingly noted that all signs point to Ross Detwiller serving as the club’s opener in the series opener.

Baseball-Savant

Fish Picks Answer Key

1. Phillies
2. Over
3. Under
4. Yes
5. Phillies