Stanton, Bour go deep early; Gordon delivers walk-off hit in extra-inning win
A week after they put on a show at the Home Run Derby, Giancarlo Stanton and Justin Bour delivered some more epic blasts at Marlins Park.
But the Marlins needed a little more on Monday night.
Dee Gordon gave it to them with a bases loaded, walk-off single in the bottom of the 10th that secured a 6-5 victory over the Phillies and snapped a three-game losing streak.
Derek Dietrich set up Gordon’s game-winner with a one-out triple to right center field.
In a sequence Gordon later described as “chaotic,” he suddenly found himself in the game-winning spot with two outs after the Phillies intentionally walked J.T. Realmuto and J.T. Riddle to load the bases. A.J. Ellis grounded into a fielder’s choice that allowed the Phillies to get the second at the plate.
And then Gordon delivered.
“I was late getting out there because I was the sixth hitter hitting when I got up to watch video against the guy pitching, just in case,” Gordon said. “Then the triple happened and I thought, I’m good. Then the intentional walk happened, then he did it again. I was like ‘Oh snap, I’ve got to get out there.”
Gordon said he didn’t even have his batting gloves on when he got to the on-deck circle. Moments later, he lined a ball to right center that landed just in front of Ty Kelly. It was Gordon’s fourth career walk-off hit and the Marlins’ fourth walk-off win of the season. Drew Steckenrider picked up his first major-league win in relief.
“I thought it was going into the gap, then [Kelly] got over there,” Gordon said. “I thought oh, oh, oh, then it got down.”
The Marlins loaded the bases in the bottom of the ninth with one out, but failed to drive in the winning run at that point.
Tyler Moore drew a one-out walk and Gordon singled off reliever Ricardo Pinto to put runners on the corners. After the Phillies replaced Pinto with closer Hector Neris, they intentionally walked Stanton after Gordon took second base on defensive indifference. But Neris struck out Christian Yelich. And Marcell Ozuna hit a liner off Neris’ leg that rolled toward first base allowing Tommy Joseph to retrieve the ball and record the out.
“We had our shots,” Marlins manager Don Mattingly said. “Ozuna hits a ball that’s a base hit if it bounces anywhere even to the right of the first baseman and it’s game over. But obviously a big hit by Dee.”
Stanton’s first home run was a two-run blast on his first at-bat of the game off Phillies starter Jerad Eickhoff. It traveled an estimated 441 feet and bounced off the auxiliary scoreboard in left field at a scorching 115 miles per hour according to MLB’s Statcast tracking system.
After the Phillies answered with four in the third off Tom Koehler, Stanton hit a solo homer that traveled 386 feet and landed a couple of rows beyond the left field wall. Stanton’s second homer was estimated to have reached a maximum height of 157 feet on its trajectory.
It was Stanton’s 24th multi-homer game of his career and his sixth of this season, which matched Dodgers rookie Cody Bellinger and extended his single-season franchise record. Stanton leads the National League with 28 home runs.
“That was good, we showed pop today to score some runs, and Dee came through in the clutch at the end,” Stanton said.
Bour, who nearly upset Yankees rookie Aaron Judge in the Home Run Derby with 22 homers in the first round, also delivered a Derby-worthy blast Monday.
Bour smacked a fastball from Eickhoff an estimated 446 feet into the second deck in right center for a two-run homer that put the Marlins ahead 5-4.
Soon after the Phillies tied the game in the seventh on a sacrifice fly by Cesar Hernandez, Stanton just missed the go-ahead home run and what would have been his first three-homer game.
A lot like his home run in the fifth, Stanton hit a ball very high that traveled 391 feet to left center. But it landed a step short of the wall and in the glove of left fielder Cameron Perkins, who made a great catch while avoiding a collision with center fielder Odubel Herrera as each player leapt at the same time for the ball.
Koehler labored through that four-run third inning, throwing 38 pitches, walking two and allowing a pair of doubles to Freddy Galvis and Nick Williams. Koehler retired the last seven batters he faced, however, and pitched five innings.
He couldn’t pick up his first victory of the season at home and first since April 23 after the Phillies tied the game in the seventh against Kyle Barraclough.
PRADO INJURED AGAIN
Martin Prado exited Monday’s game after suffering a right knee strain and as a result landed on the disabled list for the third time this season. Shortstop Miguel Rojas will be reinstated from the disabled list.
Mattingly said the injury occurred in the third inning when Prado fielded a grounder by Eickhoff and threw across his body to first base. Prado was replaced by Dietrich in the fifth.
Prado’s two earlier stints on the DL stemmed from a right hamstring injury suffered while playing for Venezuela in the World Baseball Classic in March.
This story was originally published July 17, 2017 at 11:05 PM with the headline "Stanton, Bour go deep early; Gordon delivers walk-off hit in extra-inning win."