LDN - Sports

Phillies outlast Marlins in 13 innings

[September 17, 2016] PHILADELPHIA -- In the Philadelphia Phillies' longest game this season, at least the home crowd went home happy.

Pinch-hitter Jimmy Paredes played hero in the 13th inning with an RBI single to deliver a 4-3 victory over the Miami Marlins on Friday night.

"Where do I start?" Phillies manager Pete Mackanin asked. "It wasn't pretty, but our bullpen did a great job ... I can't remember everything that happened tonight."

It was one of those games, lasting 4 hours, 43 minutes, enough to send all but the most fervent fans home early.

Both teams had opportunities to score in extra innings.

Miami loaded the bases with two outs in the 11th, but J.T. Realmuto struck out to end the threat. The Phillies put their first two men on in the12th before a strikeout and double play killed that rally.

The Marlins had plenty of chances throughout the game, leaving 15 men on base while hitting 2-for-13 with men in scoring position.

"Obviously our guys really battled tonight, but when you get to the root of it, we left a lot of people out there," Miami manager Don Mattingly said.

It was 10 minutes before midnight when Paredes delivered the winner, driving home Peter Bourjos, who had singled to open the inning in his first at-bat of the game.

Afterward, he met the media with a jersey that had most of the buttons ripped off.

"I'll take it," he said with a laugh. "I'll leave it like that."

Miami's Derek Dietrich tried to play spoiler, tying the score at 3 in the eighth with his first career pinch-homer, a shot to right field off Phillies reliever Edubray Ramos.

That undid the sixth-inning momentum of the Phillies, who had gotten some much-needed juice from slugging first baseman Ryan Howard.

Howard's 22nd home run of the season sparked a three-run rally that drove Marlins starter Tom Koehler from the game and put the Phillies up 3-2 after six innings.

It was the type of home run that Howard has hit plenty of in his career, a no-doubt bomb to near straightaway center field, disappearing into the Citizens Bank Park seats. This particular one, No. 379 in his career, moved him into a tie for 70th on the all-time list with Hall of Famers Orlando Cepeda and Tony Perez.

Howard's home run only cut the deficit in half before an RBI double by Odubel Herrera and a fielder's choice groundout by Aaron Altherr against the Marlins' bullpen gave the Phillies their first lead of the game.

Miami first got on the board in the fifth inning, when a close play at first base turned into a two-run turn at-bat.

Dee Gordon's dribbler up the first-base line was fielded by Howard, who lunged at the base as Gordon slid in. Though Howard's tag beat Gordon to the bag, Phillies pitcher Adam Morgan was called for interference as he jumped over Gordon to avoid contact after rushing over to cover the play.

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Phillies left fielder Jimmy Paredes (41) hits a walk off RBI single against the Miami Marlins during the thirteenth inning at Citizens Bank Park. The Philadelphia Phillies won 4-3 in the eleventh inning. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports

"The pitcher knocked him off track, you can't just go tackle a guy basically -- I know he didn't mean to, but if that's allowed, then our pitchers should be doing that a lot," Mattingly joked. "It was a different play, I've never seen it before."

Gordon stole second base to become the fourth Miami player in scoring position of the game -- and the first to score, which he did on Martin Prado's double two batters later.

That was the end of the road for Morgan, who was pulled after 4 1/3 innings in which he gave up seven hits. He was tagged for two unearned runs -- Realmuto picked up a two-out RBI single off reliever David Hernandez -- with four strikeouts and two walks.

Koehler lasted two batters into the sixth before he was pulled. Koehler, who was 2-1 with a 1.29 ERA in four earlier starts this season against the Phillies, was charged with two runs and five hits in five-plus innings.

NOTES: Friday's game was the opener in the final series between the division rivals. The Phillies lead the series 9-8. Miami hasn't beaten Philadelphia in a season series since going 10-8 in 2008. ... The Phillies' 15-2 loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates on Thursday night was the first time in the club's 133-year history that the bullpen gave up nine or more earned runs in 2 1/3 innings or fewer; they gave up nine in the final two innings. ... With his 30th start, Miami RHP Tom Koehler becomes the third Marlins pitcher to start 30 games in three consecutive seasons, joining Dontrelle Willis (2004-07) and Scott Olsen (2006-08) ...The Phillies announced that 2013 first-round draft pick SS J.P. Crawford underwent arthroscopic knee surgery Wednesday and is expected to be ready for spring training. Crawford hit .250 this season, split between Double-A Reading and Triple-A Lehigh Valley.

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