Offense erupts as Phillies pound Marlins, 7-3

MIAMI - Among the items littered on the desk in the visiting manager's office at Marlins Park: three packages of Tylenol and a can of Sierra Mist.

The cold beverage was open, a refreshing treat for a pleasant night at the ballpark. The pain medication, however, was unopened.

Apparently it wasn't a necessity for Charlie Manuel following a rarity of a game for his team in 2013: a stress-free victory.

The manager and a legion of heartburn-heavy Phillies' fans got a rare treat last night, when Ryan Howard returned to the lineup and led his team to a 7-3 win over Miami.

The Phils tied a season high with 15 hits en route to their sixth win in the last nine games.

"Pretty good, wasn't it?" Manuel said of the offensive onslaught.

The victory came on a night when the Phils were matched up against a pitcher they didn't score a single run off in two starts this season. Against the Phillies, Jose Fernandez looked more like Justin Verlander than a 20-year-old rookie enjoying his first month in the big leagues before last night.

The Cuban-born righthander, a first-round pick in 2011, held the Phils to three hits in 13 shutout innings.

Last night, the Phils made the rookie work. He was gone after throwing 79 pitches in five innings, opening the door to a bullpen the Phils feasted on.

"The biggest difference I saw was we were more patient, we made him throw more pitches," Manuel said of Fernandez, who allowed a run on five hits and a walk in five innings. "We were getting better pitches to hit. We were able to put some good swings on him. We didn't tear him up . . . Maybe one of he best things was they took him out."

Manuel laughed.

Although the slumping Delmon Young smoked a solo home run off Hernandez to get the bats in gear early, it was a flurry of batted balls that never left the infield that led to an offensive onslaught after Fernandez departed.

Jimmy Rollins, Ben Revere and Michael Young hit consecutive infield singles to ignite a four-run explosion in the seventh inning. The four runs the Phillies scored in the seventh matched their total offensive output in the previous three games combined.

The Phils scored six of their seven runs off three Marlins relievers upon Fernandez' exit.

"It was good to get to that bullpen early," Revere said, "and we were happy to do that."

The victory was just the 12th this season when the Phils have won by a margin of four or more runs.

An odd thing happens when the Phillies normally offensively challenged bats arrive for game time: They win.

When the Phillies have scored at least four runs this season, they are 16-5.

"Hopefully, we can carry what we did today into tomorrow and for the rest of this road trip," said Delmon Young, who went 2-for-4 with a home run and a double. "Because we're going to need to score runs to win these games against the clubs we're going to be playing."

In his first game back after missing two in a row with a sore left knee, Howard led the hit parade by going 3-for-5 with three RBI, snapping a 4-for-36 slump. Revere (3-for-5, two runs) also had three hits.

After the trio of infield singles in the seventh, Howard ripped a two-run single to right off Marlins reliever Ryan Webb to turn a 2-1 lead into a more comfortable 4-1 advantage.

Delmon Young and Brown followed by knocking in the remaining runs to cap an inning - and a victory - that was a long time coming for the Phils.

The recipient of all of the offense was Tyler Cloyd, activated earlier in the day to jump back into the rotation after a 10-day break in between big-league starts.

While Fernandez was firing fastballs that hovered in the upper 90s - he topped out at 98 mph, Cloyd failed to reach 90 on the gun. But he proved to be more effective than the heralded Marlins rookie last night.

Cloyd scattered eight hits in seven innings, holding the Marlins to two runs. He struck out five and walked two.

"He kept the ball down good, moved the ball on both sides of the plate," Manuel said. "He used all of his pitches. He did a good job of holding them."

Cloyd likely earned himself another start in what's likely to be a seasonlong audition in the bottom of the rotation with Roy Halladay sidelined with inflammation in his right shoulder. Cloyd is 1-0 with a 2.70 ERA in two starts since Halladay went on the disabled list on May 6.

"Hopefully," Cloyd said of sticking in the Phils' rotation. "Obviously, you just want to do the best you can and give the team a chance to win. I was very happy with both outings. Hopefully I can stay up here and get some more starts."

Beginning with his promotion to the big leagues at the end of last year, Cloyd has allowed three runs or fewer in six of his eight starts with the Phillies, and in all five that he's made away from Citizens Bank Park.

Cole Hamels declined to speak with reporters following his start on Monday night, when he allowed two runs in six innings but was still tagged with a loss in the Phils 5-1 defeat.

Hamels hasn't pitched with a lead since April 7.

"That's amazing," Manuel said. "I wish I had the answer."

Hamels apparently doesn't have the answers, either, as he declined to speak with reporters again yesterday. The Phillies are 1-9 in Hamels' starts this season, despite his having a 3.12 ERA in his last eight games.

"I'm sure it's confusing to him when he pitches like he did last night and it's hard for him to win," Manuel said. "That's the competitor in him, that's the part that was upset. Probably thought it was best that he didn't talk to you."

Hamels struck out a season-high 10 batters and didn't walk any on Monday, when his fastball topped out at 95 mph.

"Sometimes getting mad is good," Manuel said. "Nothing wrong with getting mad."

The Phils officially placed Carlos Ruiz on the 15-day disabled list to make room on the active roster for starter Tyler Cloyd. Ruiz has a Grade 2 right hamstring strain and is expected to miss 3 to 4 weeks.

Blog: ph.ly/HighCheese