Phillies hold off Marlins’ late charge, get big offensive performance
The Phillies needed more offense than they bargained for, but they got it against the Marlins.
As Jake Arrieta ran the bases and the Phillies’ lead grew in a five-run fifth inning on Saturday night, Gabe Kapler put in a call to the bullpen. No sense in pushing Arrieta any further, the manager reasoned, in a game that was well in hand against the worst team in the National League.
Makes sense, right? One problem: Arrieta had other ideas.
“Well, he told me that he wanted to take me out,” Arrieta said. “I wanted to stay in.”
The veteran pitcher won. He was fortunate that the Phillies did, too.
Arrieta gave up four consecutive singles without recording an out in the sixth inning. He let the Marlins back into the game, leaving the Phillies to deploy two of their best relievers and rely on a two-run, eighth-inning homer by Rhys Hoskins to eke out a 12-9 victory at Citizens Bank Park.
Five nights after criticizing his teammates for a “flat” performance in a rain-delayed loss in New York, Arrieta owes them one.
"I let it get too close," Arrieta said. "I'm a little frustrated with that. I wasn't able to put up a clean sixth inning where [reliever Enyel De Los Santos] could come in and hopefully finish out the game. It didn't work out that way. It happens."
When Kapler acquiesced to Arrieta and allowed him to return to the mound for the sixth inning, the Phillies held a 10-1 lead. But the Marlins loaded the bases on singles by Starlin Castro, Jorge Alfaro, and Isaac Galloway, before Jon Berti drove in a run with a hard single to right field.
Kapler emerged from the dugout and called on lefty reliever Jose Alvarez, who inherited the bases-loaded jam and allowed all three runners to score, slicing the margin to 10-5.
“Four singles,” Arrieta said, replaying the inning. “I had a lot of weak contact. I think I gave up eight singles tonight, some infield hits. They were able to find some holes in the sixth inning and make it interesting.”
Arrieta labored from the start, a struggle that Kapler attributed to the 20-mph wind. Arrieta threw 29 pitches in the first inning despite holding the Marlins off the scoreboard. His only clean inning was the fourth.
The Phillies, meanwhile, scored four runs in the second inning and one in the fourth against Marlins starter Trevor Richards, then added five in the fifth against reliever Jarlin Garcia. It was an offensive outburst reminiscent of the season’s first two weeks. And it was precisely what Kapler hoped would happen with Jean Segura back in the two-hole after 10 days on the injured list.
Then, Segura got beaned by a 90 mph fastball in the second inning. In a scary moment, he lay face down on the dirt next to home plate for a few minutes, before finally getting to his feet, walking off the field, and leaving the game. The Phillies don’t think Segura suffered a concussion.
Even without Segura, the offense clicked. Nick Williams homered in the second inning, and Andrew McCutchen went deep in the fourth to collect his 800th career RBI. Bryce Harper lifted a two-run double, and Maikel Franco, back in the No. 8 spot, got two hits.
"Openly, I think what saved us was our run-scoring ability," Kapler said. "The defense was huge. But it's probably the fact that we swung the bats all the way throughout the game. We never took our foot off the gas pedal, and I think that's probably the biggest takeaway from tonight's game. You never take your foot off the gas. It doesn't matter where you are -- 10-1 lead, 15-1 lead, you never know."
Arrieta wound up throwing 99 pitches, matching his total from Monday night against the Mets. It wasn’t a hugely heavy load, but considering the big lead and the hard work early in the game, it could have been lessened if only he had deferred to Kapler.
“I understand that,” Arrieta said. “But I also think that I could’ve gone out there and gotten three outs quickly. It just didn’t work out that way. But we won the game.”