Phillies finally figure out a way to beat the Marlins | Extra Innings

A win over the Miami Marlins is not supposed to be as elusive as the search for the Kraken, but the Phillies sure made it seem that way over the last 10 days.

Their losing streak against the stinking Fish reached five games Saturday when the bullpen squandered a late 6-3 lead by surrendering six runs in the seventh inning, but the Phillies finally got a "W" on Sunday in Miami. All it took was scoring 13 runs on 17 hits, including homers from Bamboo Brad Miller and Bryce Harper.

The Phillies picked up a game on the first-place Atlanta Braves, who blew a late lead of their own Sunday night in a loss to the New York Mets at CitiField. The Phillies still sit 5 1/2 games behind the Braves. They are off Monday, then begin a three-game series against the Braves on Tuesday night in Atlanta.

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— Bob Brookover (extrainnings@inquirer.com)

A man walks into a bar. He sits at the bar. The bar is near Long Beach Island, where it’s not unusual to find Philadelphia and New York fans mixing together.

The man watches the Phillies take a 6-1 lead. The man watches the lead slip to 6-3 and notices that the 60-something-year-old woman seated next to him is very excited. The man figures the woman is a Mets fan cheering against the Phillies. The man watches the Marlins take a 9-6 lead in the seventh inning. The woman next to him is way too excited to just be a Mets fan happy to see the Phillies lose.

“Are you a Marlins’ fan?" the man asks the woman.

“Oh, yes,” the woman says excitedly.

“I’ve been to Miami and I’ve never even seen a Marlins fan there, let alone on LBI,” the man says.

The woman is not amused.

“Do you still think we stink?" she asks.

“Yes,” the man says.

Nevertheless, the Marlins are 7-6 against the Phillies this season and you need not look any farther than that to figure out why the Braves are 5 1/2 games ahead of them in the NL East. Atlanta is 8-1 against the Marlins. Miami is 7-20 against the Braves, Mets and Nationals. The Phillies are 15-12 against those three teams.

The Phillies have six games remaining against the Marlins, including the final three of the season at Citizens Bank Park. In theory, that should be a good thing if the Phillies are fighting for a postseason spot. In reality, it might not be.

The Phillies did finally beat the Marlins, but only after allowing a 10-1 lead to dwindle to 10-6 in the bottom of the seventh inning. Bryce Harper’s home run in the eighth finally allowed the Phillies to breathe a sigh of relief.

Catcher J.T. Realmuto was announced Sunday as the Phillies’ only All-Star even though his offensive numbers are lagging behind his performance last year with the Marlins. As our Matt Breen points out, he is still considered one of the best defensive catchers in the game and he is also on pace to break the late Darren Daulton’s team record of 147 games caught in one season.

Realmuto, however, did have to leave Sunday’s game after the Phillies’ seven-run sixth inning because he felt tightness in his left hamstring. Manager Gabe Kapler said that it was a precautionary move and that he expects Realmuto to be fine after Monday’s off day in Atlanta.

Bryce Harper’s three hits and four RBIs led the Phillies offense in Sunday’s victory, and as I wrote over the weekend, he was a leader on and off the field during his first half-season in Philadelphia.

Alec Bohm, the Phillies’ first-round pick a year ago, gave up a chance to play in the Florida State League’s All-Star game last month when he accepted a promotion to double-A Reading. Friday, before he delivered a walk-off single for Reading, Bohm found out that he would be playing in an even more prestigious game. The third baseman was added to the National League prospects’ roster for Sunday’s Futures Game in Cleveland, site of this year’s All-Star Game.

Monday: Off day in Atlanta.

Tuesday: The Phillies will see Dallas Keuchel for the first time in a Braves uniform, 7:20 p.m.

Wednesday: Bryse Wilson goes for the Braves, 7:20 p.m.

Thursday: All-Star Mike Soroka (9-1, 2.13 ERA) pitches series finale for Atlanta, 7:20 p.m.

Friday: Jacob deGrom pitches series opener for Mets at CitiField, 7:10 p.m.

Second baseman Cesar Hernandez was given the first opportunity to take over the leadoff spot in the Phillies order when Andrew McCutchen was lost for the season to a torn ACL injury, but in eight games, he batted .125 (4-for-32) with a .222 on-base percentage and .410 OPS. His average dropped 20 points from .284 to .264 in that eight-game span.

Since moving out of the leadoff spot, however, Hernandez has been hot again. In his last 16 games, he has batted .367 with a .394 on-base percentage and an .861 OPS. His overall average is back up to .284.

Send questions by email or on Twitter @brookob.

Question: I am so over Kapler after (Saturday’s) loss. So, I live in Florida and as such, when the Phils play the Marlins I can’t get it on the MLB app so I have to watch the Marlins’ telecast on cable. When (Juan) Nicasio came into the game, their announcers expressed surprise. One said he was “shocked” since the Marlins have hit him around constantly. And guess what ... they hit him around!

Next came (Adam) Morgan, the Marlins’ guys are saying how, again, surprised they are because just last weekend the Marlins hit him all over the yard! Ballgame over. Can you even remotely explain to me what the king of analytics was thinking when the opposing announcing team already knew they were bad moves? Plus, the guy is in his 245th game as our manager and he’s making the exact same mistake he made in game 1 ... taking out a proven starting pitcher too early. Help, this season is going down the drain.

— Jay M, via email

Answer: Thanks for the question, Jay. Your frustration oozed off the page, but now that I’ve washed my hands, I can answer your question.

I do not blame Kapler for removing Zach Eflin from Saturday’s game after six innings. He had just allowed a two-run homer the inning before to Neil Walker and the top of the Marlins lineup was coming up in the seventh. Eflin had already faced the Marlins order three times.

As for Kapler’s bullpen decisions, Nicasio had actually pitched a scoreless inning against the Marlins the previous Saturday in Philadelphia, and he had gained Kapler’s trust this month with 10 straight scoreless outings before Saturday. Morgan, meanwhile, had a 1.96 ERA in 24 games this season before going on the injured list with a sore forearm. He did cough up the lead to the Marlins in his first game back from the IL, but he followed that with two straight scoreless outings.

Morgan is one of the Phillies’ best relievers and Kapler has to be able to count on him if this team is going to have success. It’s possible he’s still trying to pitch his way back into form after missing nearly a month.