Miami Marlins Offense Erupts for 16 Hits, Sweep Phillies

The Miami Marlins have won 20 of their last 35 games.

Let that sink in a little bit. A team widely taken for granted as the “worst team in the history of baseball” has gone 20-15 since starting, er, poorly. The Miami Marlins came away from their three-game set against the Philadelphia Phillies with a three-game sweep. It was first time since August of 2009 for a three-game set in Philadelphia, according to Fox Sports.

The Miami Marlins led early, on first-inning non-consecutive singles from Miguel Rojas, Garrett Cooper, and Starlin Castro. Cooper tried to score from second on the RBI-single, but after initially being called safe was called out on second look.

And so Jordan Yamamoto took the hill with a lead over a team other than the St. Louis Cardinals for the first time. It didn’t start out very well. He issued walks to the first three batters in the order, on 16 pitches before recording a Jay Bruce pop out. After a Jean Segura two-run single gave the Phillies a lead, he struck out Cesar Hernandez and got Andrew Knapp to fly out to end the threat.

The Phillies lead was short-lived, and they wouldn’t lead again after JT Riddle connected to right field for his fifth long-ball of the season. Cesar Puello also came home on the dinger for a 3-2 Marlins lead.

Eventually, Yamamoto was credited with the win, as the Phillies couldn’t cross the plate again with him on the mound. He lasted five innings and allowed two hits and one more walk while striking out seven batters. He ended up putting 56-of-99 offerings over the plate. He’s now 3-0 with a 0.95 ERA to open his major league career. He still has a sub-1 WHIP, clocking in at 0.79 for the season.

In the third inning, Harold Ramirez came home on a Brian Anderson double-play ball, one of five the Marlins ground into in the contest. The run made the score 4-2. In the fifth, Cooper and Anderson went back-to-back to double the lead for the Miami Marlins.

Reliever Jarlin Garcia pitched two perfect innings, striking out two and getting 13-of-17 pitches in the zone. The Phillies brought a run home in the eighth against Tayron Guerrero and one in the ninth against Nick Anderson Anderson also struck a batter out, and earned his first major league save.

Cooper finished with the homer and a pair of singles, and Castro had two singles and a double to lead the Miami Marlins 16-hit attack. Anderson, Riddle, and Holaday also had multi-hit games. Cooper is now hitting .324 for the season, Puello .339, Ramirez .310, Holaday is at .290, and Rojas is at .275.

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Fangraphs Best and Worst

Riddle’s overall positive WPA contribution to the Marlins victory was .221, and Cooper’s was at .208. Enyel De Los Santos clocked in for the Phils at .262 negative contribution.

Despite the three-run outburst, the Miami Marlins 60 homers this season ranks them last in the majors, four behind the Detroit Tigers and nine back of the San Francisco Giants for last in the National League. Nineteen clubs have 100 or more taters, led by 146 for the Minnesota Twins.

The Miami Marlins have now won their last four-in-a-row, and will take a well-deserved day off before opening a three-game road set against the Washington Nationals, starting on Tuesday night.

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