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 Third baseman Martin Prado and center fielder Marcell Ozuna were two
of the heroes on Thursday night, each hitting two-run homers to lead
Miami to a 9-7 win over the Philadelphia Phillies at Marlins Park.
"One thing that is helping us (lately) is the mentality we are
taking to batting practice," Prado said. "In the beginning of the
year, there were a lot of things that distracted us."
The Marlins (50-71) are three games ahead of Philadelphia in the
battle to avoid last place in the National League East.
Philadelphia (47-74), which fell behind 8-1 but battled back to
within two runs on two occasions, has the worst record in baseball.
Marlins left-hander Brad Hand (3-3) allowed four hits, two walks and
one run in six innings. He struck out five and has gone 264 straight
batters without allowing a home run at home, which is the
third-longest active streak in the majors.
Phillies right-hander Jerome Williams (4-9) gave up eight hits, four
walks and eight runs in 1 2/3 innings.
"Everything snowballed -- I couldn't throw the ball where I wanted
to," Williams said. "It sucks to go out there and have the
performance I had while the guys (teammates) were busting their
butts to try and come back. I feel terrible about it."
Early on, the Phillies were looking good. Philadelphia loaded the
bases with one out in the first inning but got only one run, on
first baseman Darin Ruf's sacrifice fly. The Marlins avoided further
damage when shortstop Adeiny Hechavarria threw out left fielder
Aaron Altherr on a fine fielding play.
"Brad did a nice job in that first inning to limit the damage,"
Marlins manager Dan Jennings said of Hand, who retired 13 out of 14
batters during one stretch. "He threw some nice sliders. He utilized
that pitch very well."
Miami came right back with a four-run rally in the bottom of the
first. The Marlins loaded the bases with no outs and then cashed in
with a wild pitch, a sacrifice fly, an RBI groundout and a
run-scoring single by Hechavarria, which extended his career-high
hitting streak to 13 games.
Hechavarria is batting .380 during that streak.
The Marlins added four runs in the second. Prado's homer, his fifth
of the season, came on a 91 mph fastball. Ozuna's shot, his sixth of
the season, came on an 84 mph breaking pitch.
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Hand left the game with an 8-1 lead, but Philadelphia got to Miami's
bullpen, scoring six runs in the final three innings. The Phillies
scored three times on five hits in the seventh inning against Scott
McGough, who was making his major league debut.
Philadelphia added two runs in the eighth against reliever Bryan
Morris. Shortstop Freddy Galvis, who had an RBI single in the
seventh, blasted a run-scoring triple in the eighth.
Miami extended its lead to 9-6 in the bottom of the eighth when
right fielder Ichiro Suzuki tripled and scored on a sacrifice fly by
Prado.
A.J. Ramos gave up a solo home run to pinch hitter Cody Asche in the
ninth but did enough to earn his 21st save of the season.
"We got in a hole and tried to dig out," Phillies manager Pete
Mackanin said. "Our bats went silent for about five innings, (but
then we made) a hell of a comeback. We had a good chance to win that
game."
NOTES: Marlins RF Giancarlo Stanton (fractured left hand) said he
will return by Sept. 1. ... With 2B Chase Utley traded to the
Dodgers on Wednesday, the Phillies have just $65 million in
committed contracts for next year. Philadelphia's payroll was more
than $165 million every year since 2011 before this year's sell-off
of LHP Cole Hamels, RHP Jonathan Papelbon, CF Ben Revere and Utley.
... 2B Darnell Sweeney, acquired by the Phillies in the Utley deal,
made his big-league debut in the fifth, popping out to second base.
... Miami selected the contract of RHP Scott McGough from Triple-A
New Orleans and optioned C Tomas Telis to the same club. ...
Phillies RHP Jerad Eickhoff, acquired from the Rangers in the Hamels
trade, will start Friday against Miami RHP Kendry Flores. It will be
Flores' first big-league start and Eickhoff's major league debut.
... After Thursday's game, LHP Cesar Jimenez was designated for
assignment by Philadelphia.
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