Home runs doom Miami Marlins as the Philadelphia Phillies even opening series
Caleb Smith labored through three innings. Zack Wheeler kept the Miami Marlins offense off-balanced. And four big swings from the Philadelphia Phillies’ Didi Gregorious, Phil Gosselin and J.T. Realmuto kept the Marlins from getting a lead on Saturday.
The end result: A 7-1 loss to the Philadelphia Phillies to even the first series of the season for both teams. The series finale is set for 1:05 p.m. Sunday at Citizens Bank Park.
“It could have been a lot worse,” Marlins manager Don Mattingly said.
He’s not wrong. Marlins pitchers walked nine batters and gave up seven hits.
But all seven of the Phillies’ runs came on home-run swings from Gregorious, Gosselin and Realmuto. Gregorious took a Smith slider that landed near the middle of the zone 417 feet into the second-level of seats in right field to lead off the second inning to give Philadelphia (1-1) an early 1-0 lead. Gosselin hit two home runs, first a two-run shot to left-center against Alex Vesia in the sixth and a solo shot to right against Stephen Tarpley to lead off the eighth.
Realmuto’s home run, a three-run shot that went 431 feet to straightaway center field against Ryne Stanek in the seventh, was the clincher. As the former Marlins catcher rounded the bases, a small group of Phillies fans watching from just outside the ballpark gate in center field began chanting“Sign J.T.!” Realmuto is eligible for free agency after this season.
The Marlins (1-1) scored their only run in the fifth on a Miguel Rojas RBI single that scored Brian Anderson, who reached on a one-out walk and advanced to second on a Garrett Cooper single.
But outside of that little flurry, Miami had few answers for Wheeler, who the Phillies signed this offseason to a five-year, $118 million contract.
The Marlins recorded five hits and drew two walks in seven innings against the righty. Most of that production, however, was erased. Miami grounded into four inning-ending double plays against Wheeler.
Philadelphia’s bullpen threw two scoreless innings to seal the win.
Smith’s struggles
The Marlins’ struggles Saturday began with starting pitcher Smith, who needed 70 pitches to get nine outs in his first start of the season. He walked six, tying a career high.
“Obviously not a lot was working. Six walks in three innings, that’s unacceptable,” Smith said. “Just a horse [expletive] outing. Fastball command wasn’t there. It was there early in the first inning and then I kind of lost it. I thought my offspeed pitches were good for the most part. Got into a lot of full counts, walked a lot of guys. Just unacceptable.”
The half-glass-full look: Despite the half-dozen walks, the only run Smith surrendered was the Gregorious home run in the second.
“I guess that’s a positive you can take out of it,” Smith said, “but I have a hard time seeing positives in a game like that. I set the tone for the game and it was not the tone that you want to set. I take full responsibility for that loss. You can’t have those outings ever, especially in a 60-game season.”
MLB debuts
Smith’s early departure from Saturday’s game paved the way for two Marlins pitchers to make their MLB debuts.
Nick Neidert threw 2 1/3 scoreless innings, giving up just one hit and one walk and forcing a double play. Vesia threw 2/3 of an inning and struck out Gregorious with a 92 mph four-seam fastball but drew the loss after giving up the go-ahead home run to Gosselin.
This and that
▪ Rojas had a pair of hits in both games to start the 2020 season and has reached base in five of his first seven plate appearances. The shortstop batted ninth on Friday and seventh on Saturday.
▪ Mattingly made a handful of defensive changes to his lineup Saturday. Jonathan Villar played second base, Jon Berti was in center field, Garrett Cooper was at first base, Jesus Aguilar served as the designated hitter and Chad Wallach was the catcher. Isan Diaz did not start.
This story was originally published July 25, 2020 at 7:01 PM.
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