Zach Eflin goes the distance in Phillies’ 5-1 win over Marlins

There was nothing for Gabe Kapler to say Sunday afternoon when Zach Eflin stepped into the Phillies dugout at Citizens Bank Park after completing the eighth inning of a 5-1 win over the Marlins.

Eflin had breezed through the inning with just nine pitches and still possessed a double-digit pitch count. The Phillies had played 364 games since a starting pitcher last logged nine innings. And Eflin was just three outs away from a complete game. But Kapler did not have to tell him the ninth inning belonged to him.

“I think the entire dugout was, like, let’s not make a phone call to the bullpen,” Kapler said. “And I certainly didn’t feel like I wanted to make a phone call to the bullpen.”

The right-hander, pitching with such efficiency, made the manager’s decision for him.

Eflin handled the ninth inning just as he had the eighth. He retired all three batters to record his third career complete game. Eflin struck out three, walked none, and allowed one run on seven hits. He threw 107 pitches, 77 of which were strikes.

“I was ready to plead my case if he would have come up to talk to me,” Eflin said. “But I felt good from pitch one. So it was exciting to get back out for the ninth.”

It was the type of win that could remove the bitter taste the Phillies had when they returned home Thursday night after a rough road trip, only to lose to Miami in extra innings. They responded by winning their next three games to take the four-game series against the last-place Marlins. The Phillies did what they were expected to do.

Eflin joins Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee, Cole Hamels, and Kyle Kendrick as the only Phillies pitchers since 2010 with three complete games. It was the first nine-inning, complete-game win for a Phillies pitcher since Jeremy Hellickson in September 2016.

“I think it's about time to kind of test us and really just put everything we have out on the field each and every single night. So to have that trust to have me go out and finish the game is huge,” Eflin said. “Even a couple outings ago, I think I was going out for the seventh with 100 pitches or something. It's huge. It gives us a huge confidence boost. Starting pitchers always want to stay in the game as long as we can. So to be able to do that and have everybody behind us is big.”

The key to his complete game was his fastball, which he threw it with much more frequency than he did earlier this month when the Marlins rocked him in Miami. He mixed in a two-seam fastball with good movement to complement his four-seam fastball, both of which allowed his slider to be more effective.

Andrew Knapp, who caught Eflin in the minor leagues, created a game plan to utilize Eflin’s ability to throw his fastball at the top of the strike zone, calling first for a fastball up and in to a right-handed batter, and then a fastball down and away on the next pitch. The location of the pitches changed by four feet. The Marlins remained off balance.

“He had really good intent with his pitches today,” Knapp said. “He attacked from the very first pitch. Obviously, he’s got some life. It’s 94, 95 but [he] put it in the right spots. We went up just enough on guys to go back down and away, and it ended up working out.”

The Phillies provided Eflin with early run support as Bryce Harper scored from first on a first-inning double by Rhys Hoskins. Jean Segura, who had his ninth multi-hit game of the season and scored two runs, drove in Andrew McCutchen with a triple in the third, and scored on a groundout by Harper. That was Harper’s 20th RBI of the season, giving the Phillies three players — Harper, Hoskins, and Maikel Franco — with 20 RBIs before May 1 for the first time in franchise history.

That was more than enough for Eflin. He faced 32 batters, just one of whom came to the plate with more than one runner on base. And that one batter — Starlin Castro — grounded into a double play. His complete game may have been a shutout had Cesar Hernandez not fielded a grounder that belonged to Segura, who was charging from shortstop. Hernandez could not make a throw to first and a run scored.

Later, without a conversation in the dugout, Eflin returned to the mound for the start of the ninth inning. He fired a few warmup pitches to J.T. Realmuto as Knapp strapped on his catching equipment. Three more outs.

“It’s exciting,” Knapp said. “But we’ve also got to finish, you know?”

Eflin and Knapp retired the next two batters with ease. The crowd stood and cheered as Eflin removed his glove and gripped the ball with both hands. One more out. He retired Miguel Rojas on two pitches and embraced Knapp near the mound. His uniform would soon be soaked from a water cooler dumped by Segura. Eflin, with the help of Knapp, finished the job. There was nothing left to say.

“It’s pretty special,” Knapp said. “Especially with the way pitch counts are going and guys are working counts and whatnot. This is my first one in the big leagues, catch my first complete game. I wouldn’t want to do it with any other guy. I’ve been catching Zach since double A, so we’ve got a pretty good rapport. It was fun today.”

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