Marlins club three homers to beat Phillies, cap strong first half. Takeaways from the win
It’s only fitting, the Miami Marlins would finish the first half with another impressive series against a fellow playoff contender.
The Marlins bounced back from a loss Friday to the Philadelphia Phillies with back-to-back wins, capped by Sunday’s 7-3 victory in front of an announced crowd of 21,159 at loanDepot park.
Bryan De La Cruz recorded his third four-hit game of this season, coming up a triple shy of a cycle. It was his fourth career four-hit game.
De La Cruz hit one of the Marlins’ three home runs overall, joined by Jesus Sanchez and rookie Dane Myers, who continued his stellar debut.
It was the third time this season the Marlins have hit three or more home runs in a game and first time at home. Miami hit four on June 11 against the White Sox in Chicago and three at Atlanta on April 26.
Jesus Luzardo also continued to shine on the mound, tossing 6 ⅓ innings and striking out nine.
Phillies starter Aaron Nola had allowed 18 home runs already entering Sunday’s game and gave up three within the first three innings.
Here are three takeaways from Sunday’s game.
LOOKING LIKE PLAYOFF CONTENDER
The Marlins (53-39) find themselves holding one of the three National League Wild Card spots heading into the All-Star break and with their second-highest winning percentage (.576) in franchise history to that point in a season.
The only time they had a better one was in 1997 — the club’s first World Series championship season.
The Marlins enter the All-Star break with 10 more wins than they had at this point last season. Although they are a distant second in the National League East and have struggled against the frontrunning Braves, whom they are 1-9 against so far this season, the Marlins appear to have a legitimate chance of making the playoffs for the first time in a 162-game season since their 2003 World Series championship season.
Despite injuries to key players such as center fielder Jazz Chisholm Jr. and some early-season struggles from reigning Cy Young winner Sandy Alcantara, Miami continues to be one of the most balanced teams in baseball led by Luis Arraez’s chase for .400. Arraez went 0 for 4 on Sunday, snapping a 22-game on-base streak. He enters the All-Star Break with a .383 batting average.
On Sunday it was De La Cruz, who energized the Marlins’ bats with a first-inning double that was followed by a monster, 410-foot home run by Sanchez. De La Cruz would blast a two-out solo homer in the third as the Marlins took a 5-0 lead after three innings.
“I’m proud of the guys stepping up when we had injuries early on and figured out their roles and be ok with everything we’ve given them,” Marlins manager Skip Schumaker said. “They’ve grabbed a hold of it and attacked it and it’s been fun to watch them grow.”
The question becomes whether the Marlins can sustain their winning ways in the second half against a schedule that will become more challenging in late July and August with games against the Orioles, Rangers and Yankees.
“I think it starts with pitching,” Schumaker said. “Our pitching has been outstanding. Pitching and defense and we’ve gotten timely hits and I feel like that should continue.”
LUZARDO ON STELLAR STRETCH
One of the keys for the Marlins’ first-half surge has been its rotation depth. Luzardo continued to provide it on Sunday as he delivered his fifth consecutive quality start. In his past five starts, Luzardo has pitched 31.2 innings and allowed four earned runs (1.14 ERA), striking out 40 and issuing only six walks. Luzardo surpassed his career high for strikeouts with 129 and had already surpassed his career high for innings pitched (109.1).
“I’d say this is right up there with last year when I came back after being hurt,” Luzardo said. “Physically, I feel really good and I’ve never pitched this late (into the season) in my career, but I feel really good.”
Luzardo threw 83 pitches and only ran into trouble when Bryson Stott singled to open the fifth and Edmundo Sosa followed with a two-run home run. The homer snapped a scoreless streak of 26 1/3 innings for Luzardo, which ranks second-longest in franchise history behind Javier Vazquez’s 29 in a row in 2011.
DANE IS GREAT AGAIN
Myers, one of the Marlins’ picks in the minor-league phase of last December’s Rule 5 draft, continued his impressive debut by belting his first career home run in the bottom of the third. Myers lifted an 81.4 mph knuckle curve from Nola over the right field fence just inside the foul pole.
The ball landed in the tunnel behind the wall and a security guard tossed it up to a fan. But the Marlins were able to obtain the ball from the fan and get it to Myers.
It was Myers’ fourth multi-hit game in only his sixth career game since being called up following Chisholm being placed on the injured list.
“I attribute (my success so far) to my faith honestly,” Myers said. “I’m going out there and relaxing and taking every at-bat like it’s my last one. Today, it kind of sunk in and I got emotional during the anthem and everything.”
This story was originally published July 9, 2023 at 4:05 PM.
