Ed Lucas Powers Miami Marlins To Win Over Philadelphia Phillies, 4-3

Sep 18, 2013; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Miami Marlins third baseman Ed Lucas (59) celebrates hitting a home run with right fielder Giancarlo Stanton (27) during the tenth inning against the Philadelphia Phillies at Citizens Bank Park. The Marlins defeated the Phillies 4-3 in ten innings. Mandatory Credit: Howard Smith-USA TODAY Sports

The Miami Marlins used a rare display of power to steal a win from the Philadelphia Phillies in extra innings on Wednesday night.  Third baseman Ed Lucas provided the margin of victory in the 4-3 win by hitting just his 4^th home run on the season in the top of the 10^th inning.

Nathan Eovaldi started the game for the Marlins and wriggled his way through 4 scoreless innings to start the game despite allowing a baserunner in each inning.  The ineffectiveness caught up with him in the fifth, though, as the Phils used to 2 walks, 2 singles and a passed ball to score 3 times on Eovaldi and take a 3-1 lead.  Eovaldi issued a third walk in the inning before finally getting the third out and it would be his last out of the night as he was removed after 5 innings.  He ended up giving up 2 earned runs, 4 hits and 4 walks in the start while striking out 5.  Eovaldi had control issues, especially in the fifth inning, as only 48 of his 90 pitches went for strikes.

The Marlins were able to tie the game up immediately following the disastrous inning as Christian Yelich led off in the sixth with a single and scored on a prodigious home run blast by Giancarlo Stanton.   Stanton’s home run cleared the leftcenter field bleachers and ended up being caught by a fan waiting in line at a concessions stand.  The home run’s distance was estimated at 463 feet which is Stanton’s longest so far this season.

The bullpen would come in to throw 5 scoreless innings for the Fish to preserve the victory.  5 relievers each threw a scoreless inning culminating with Steve Cishek who came on for the save in the 10^th.  The save was Cishek’s 31^st on the season and 26^th consecutive converted save opportunity.  He did this one the hard way, though, as he was forced to retire the last 2 hitters with the bases loaded.

Brad Hand was credited with the win to improve to 1-1, while reliever Cesar Jimenez took the loss for the Phils and fell to 1-1 also.  The win snapped a 4 game losing skid for the Marlins.

Up Next: The Marlins head to Washington as Henderson Alvarez (4-4) will face Gio Gonzalez (10-7) for the Nationals.