Miami Marlins 6, Philadelphia Phillies 3: A Small Revenge in the City of Brotherly Love

Third Inning

Top

Starlin Castro took ball one high at the knuckles from Jake Arrieta to open the third inning, then swung at strike one well inside. Ball two, a sharp curve well inside, was easy to lay off, but strike two was a wicked looking slider that froze him. Arrieta tried to bluff on his next pitch, but the ball stayed outside and Castro laid off for a full count. The next pitch, inside the plate, was fouled down the left side. Castro was called out on strike three, on the lower edge in the center of the zone.

Justin Bour took ball one low and swung at the second pitch, knocking it straight back up the middle. Fielded on one hop by shortstop J.P. Crawford, was pegged at Santana for the second out.

Brian Anderson took ball one low and took a cut at the next pitch of the at bat, on the inside part of the plate, and drove it down the third base line and foul. The 1-1 pitch was a sharply breaking curve that dove almost into the dirt for ball two. Strike two, high in the zone, was fouled by Anderson out of play behind the plate. Another foul ball was driven down the right side, then Anderson barely held up on ball three for a full count. Ball four, low and outside, was easy for Anderson to lay off, and he trotted down to first.

Lewis Brinson took a hard cut at the first pitch, but missed and nearly lost his balance on a ball just inside the far part of the zone. The next pitch, low but in the zone, was check-swing-fouled out of play behind first base. Ball one was next, way outside, then Anderson took off on the next pitch. Brinson took another hard cut, but missed badly for strike three.

Bottom

Richards gave Herrera strike one looking, then got Herrera to cut hard at a pitch way low for strike two to open the bottom of the third. He couldn’t fool Herrera on ball one, which was low and outside. The next pitch, well below the zone, didn’t miss the ground by much for ball two. Herrera sharply fouled the next offering down the left side out of play. The next pitch, grounded to the third base side of shortstop, had Miguel Rojas range right. Rojas couldn’t make the hard throw across his body in time to cut down the speedy Herrera, on base with nobody out.

Rhys Hoskins took ball one low and strike one slightly higher, but still low in the zone for a 1-1 count. Richards, pitching from the stretch, sent the next pitch outside for ball two. Ball three was next, well inside the plate. The next pitch was slapped into the gap for a double, Herrera, hustling around the bases, made it home when Bour cut the relay off at the mound to prevent Hoskins from taking third.

Now with nobody out, a tie score, and a runner at second, Williams took strike one on the outer half of the plate to open his plate appearance. He swung at a pitch well low and outside for strike two, then took one about a foot above the zone for a ball. Prior to the next pitch, Hoskins erased himself by trying to steal third while Richards held the ball. Richards noticed, and easily tossed the pill to Anderson for a 1-5 putout without a ball in play. Williams then took a ball, and whiffed on what should have been ball three low for Richards first strikeout of the day.

Maikel Franco took a strike then slapped one into right field for a two-out base hit.

Knapp, only hitting .167 for the season, took ball one outside to start things off, then fouled off the outside corner out of play near third. Richards bounced ball two off the plate, then got Knapp to take a hard cut on a high fastball for strike two. Ball three was well inside, forcing Knapp to shuffle out of the way. With the runner off, Knapp drove it into short center, where Miguel Rojas and Lewis Brinson converged – but Rojas called it in time to collect out three.