Philadelphia Phillies walk off on Miami Marlins in extras to open final series
It started as a third-inning bloop single to shallow right field for Isan Diaz. It ended with a wild play that, at the very least, gave the Miami Marlins early momentum against the Philadelphia Phillies in Friday’s series opener at Citizens Bank Park.
But the Phillies, who have had trouble against the Marlins all season, rallied from there.
Rhys Hoskins scored on a two-out, bases-loaded error by shortstop Miguel Rojas in the 15th inning for a 5-4 Phillies walk-off win over the Marlins to begin the three-game set. It’s the Marlins’ 12th walk-off loss of the season.
The marathon of a game lasted five hours, 13 minutes — 45 minutes longer than any other Marlins game this season and the longest since a five-hour, 31-minute contest against the Tampa Bay Rays on July 3, 2018.
It spoiled what could have been a game-changing play from Diaz.
Diaz’s hit, which came with two runners on base and one out, easily scored Miguel Rojas from second base. But when Diaz took an aggressive turn past the first-base bag as Bryce Harper threw to third baseman Maikel Franco, the rundown ensued.
The ball exchanged hands five times in the infield in an attempt to tag out Diaz. Franco went to first baseman Rhys Hoskins, who threw to shortstop Scott Kingery and back to Hoskins. At that point, Starlin Castro made a charge for home plate and beat Hoskins’ throw to catcher Scott Knapp at home. Knapp’s throw back to second base was not in time.
Just like that, the Marlins (56-104) took a 4-2 lead in the third. The advantage lasted all of two innings. The Phillies (80-80) tied the game with an Haseley single in the fourth and a Harper sacrifice fly in the fifth.
But it was a big enough cushion to absorb the Phillies’ short rally attempt.
The Marlins bullpen put together four scoreless innings from there, capped by Jose Quijada’s strikeout against Harper, to force extras.
Five more scoreless frames ensued before the Phillies walked off.
Miami had leadoff hits in the 10th, 11th, 12th and 13th innings, but the runner was stranded at third three times and erased on a double play the fourth.
Coaching staff change coming
At the very least, Marlins manager Don Mattingly will have one change to his coaching staff next season.
Bench coach Tim Wallach, who has been part of Mattingly’s coaching staff all nine years he has been a manager, is stepping away from coaching to be closer to his family on the West Coast.
“Definitely bittersweet,” Mattingly said. “Wally’s a great baseball guy. We’ve been together a long time. ... Through the course of the game, our rhythm is so good now. He’s just so in tuned.”
This and that
▪ Lewis Brinson left Friday’s game with a right foot contusion.
▪ Pablo Lopez lasted just 4 1/3 innings in his final start of the year, giving up four earned runs on eight hits while striking out three. The 23-year-old righty finishes the season 5-8 with a 5.09 ERA, 95 strikeouts and 27 walks over 111 1/3 innings in 21 starts.
▪ Rojas recorded his third four-hit game of the season on Friday.
This story was originally published September 28, 2019 at 12:19 AM.
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