Marlins Blow Late Lead, Walk-Off Against Phillies
MIAMI (CBSMiami) -- The Miami Marlins continued their dominance at Marlins Park on Thursday afternoon as they beat the Philadelphia Phillies 4-3. The Marlins squandered a 3-run lead in the 8th inning but were rescued when Christian Yelich came to the plate with the bases loaded and two outs in the bottom of the 9th. Yelich smacked a single through the middle of the infield, scoring Marcel Ozuna from 3rd base and giving the Marlins their 5th walk-off victory of the season.
Yelich was having an 0 for 4 day at the plate before his game-winning single sent the 25,507 Marlins fans in attendance home with a smile. The walk-off hit was the first for Yelich as a Marlin, and his first since his days playing in Single-A.
The win pushed the Marlins home record to 19-6, best in the majors, and moved Miami to within 1.5 games of first place Atlanta in the National League East.
The game began as a pitchers duel between Marlins starter Henderson Alvarez and Phillies ace Cole Hamels, but it was Miami that drew first blood. With two outs in the 6th inning, Ed Lucas doubled to left field and then scored shortly after on a base hit by Giancarlo Stanton. The RBI was Stanton's 45th of the season which leads all of Major League Baseball.
Miami wasn't done there, putting up two more runs in the 7th inning thanks to a Marcel Ozuna 2-run home run. Ozuna homered for the second time in less than 24-hours; he hit a grand slam against the Phillies during the Marlins 14-5 win on Wednesday night.
Henderson Alvarez pitched well for Miami with seven shutout innings, giving up four hits while striking out three and walking two. The Phillies Cole Hamels also went seven innings, giving up the three runs on six hits while striking out six Marlins batters. Neither starting pitcher would factor in the games decision.
Philadelphia would come back against the Marlins and tie the game in the 8th inning. A.J Ramos started the inning for Miami, walking Jimmy Rollins before getting Will Nieves to pop out to Marlins second baseman Ed Lucas. Mike Dunn would be brought in from the Marlins bullpen to pitch to the heart of the Phillies order.
Chase Utley doubled off Dunn, and then Ryan Howard came up with runners on second and third and hit a sacrifice fly to get the Phillies on the board. Miami was one out away from getting out of the inning, but Marlon Byrd smacked a homer to deep center field tying the game at 3.
The Marlins took two out of three games against the visiting Phillies. Miami has now won 7 of its first 8 series' at Marlins Park this season. The Marlins continue their homestand on Friday when the Milwaukee Brewers come to town.
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