Phillies blow late lead, settle for series win over Marlins
PHILADELPHIA — Six outs away from a win and series sweep over the Marlins, the Phillies ended up dropping their series finale against the Fish on Sunday, 7-5 in 10 innings, settling for a series win instead.
Rob Thomson called upong Orion Kerkering to protect a two-run lead in the top of the eighth, but the right-hander squandered it away. After allowing back-to-back singles to start the inning, Kerkering got back-to-back outs to nearly get out of trouble. But he hung a 1-1 sweeper to Javier Sanoja, who sent the pitch into the left-field seats for a go-ahead three-run home run.
The Phillies tied the game in the bottom of the eighth thanks to a hustle single by Cal Stevenson, who beat out a throw to first base with two outs to drive in a run.
But after coming through in the bottom of the eighth, the Phillies couldn’t do the same in the bottom of the ninth. With two runners on and one out, Kyle Schwarber popped out and Nick Castellanos flew out to right, sending the game to extras.
Matt Strahm pitched the top of the 10th for the Phillies, allowing two runs and earning the loss. Strahm gave up the first run on a sacrifice fly by Kyle Stowers. Sinoja later singled, driving in his fifth run of the day to give the Marlins a 7-5 lead.
The Phillies didn’t put up much of a fight in the bottom of the 10th, going down 1-2-3.