Phillies see laugher turn into nail-biter in win over Marlins
The Phillies produced a season-high 18 hits in a 11-10 victory Saturday. However, Jordan Romano put them in a pinch after allowing six runs in the ninth inning.
Jordan Romano entered in the ninth inning tasked with protecting a seven-run lead.
The Phillies offense had run all over the Marlins on Saturday, racking up 18 hits, and were three outs away from a series win. It was a low-leverage spot for Romano, who the Phillies had envisioned taking on closing opportunities when they signed him over the winter.
But when Romano walked off the mound, six hits including two home runs later, Miami had the tying run at the plate. José Alvarado took over with the game now in a save situation.
“It’s probably the worst outing of my career,” said Romano, whose ERA now sits at 15.26.
Alvarado needed two pitches to end the game, inducing a lineout from Marlins infielder Xavier Edwards to preserve the 11-10 win. But Romano’s concerns remain.
When Romano struggled earlier this season, it was attributed to a dip in velocity. That wasn’t the problem on Saturday. The right-hander topped out at 99.8 mph with his four-seam, about 2.2 mph faster than his season average.
But the Marlins hit both his fastball and slider hard anyway.
“What’s honestly crazy to me, I went out there and I kind of executed what I wanted to do. It was just the worst result possible,” Romano said. “I wanted to go out there, I wanted to drive the zone with my heater, throw the slider in there for strikes. And, I mean, I did that. Just got crushed.”
Fortunately for the Phillies, their bats had been hot enough to overcome his outing. They saw production up and down the order, as seven Phillies recorded doubles. From the bottom half of the lineup, Max Kepler hit a two-RBI double in the third inning for his first hit this year with runners in scoring position, while Alec Bohm extended his hit streak to six games.
The Phillies also stole five bases.
“There was a lot of little things that we did to play a really good offensive game,” manager Rob Thomson said.
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Johan Rojas, hitting 3-for-5 in the nine-hole, was effective at turning the lineup back over to Bryson Stott and Trea Turner, who combined for seven hits and five RBIs.
Rojas scored from first on a two-RBI double from Stott in the fourth inning, nearly catching up to Bohm as he rounded third.
“It’s huge. He’s fast,” Stott said. “He flies around and can score from first and do things like that. And just seeing him have that day was awesome. It’s fun watching him run, because he almost caught Bohm with that one.”
Starter Taijuan Walker held the Marlins to just one hit and one run, but he was lifted after four innings and only 56 pitches. While his offense ran up the score on Cal Quantrill, Walker had to sit for lengthy periods between innings.
“His shoulder got a little stiff in between innings, but he grinded through four,” Thomson said. “Didn’t really fight me, but he’s disappointed he couldn’t finish because his pitch count was in good shape, getting outs. So we’re going to treat him up and get him ready for his next start.”
Walker’s velocity was down a tick across the board, with his four-seam 2.2 mph slower than his average.
He pitched his way out of some trouble in the third inning. Graham Pauley singled, and advanced to third when a fielder’s choice turned into a throwing error on Bohm. But a heads-up play from Bryce Harper over at first caught Pauley in a rundown, and Walker followed it up with two straight groundouts to escape the inning.
He issued two consecutive walks to lead off the fourth, and Kyle Stowers came around to score on an RBI groundout.
“Just couldn’t really get extended too much on the glove side, especially in that fourth inning with my cutter and forcing it in to the lefties,” Walker said. “I couldn’t really get it in there all the way. … Kind of [stinks], as I felt like I was in a pretty good groove, getting a lot of ground balls; my splitter was working really well today.”
The bullpen took over in the fifth. Matt Strahm gave up two straight singles but induced a double play and a groundout to hold the Marlins off. Right-hander Carlos Hernández struggled in the sixth, giving up three runs on a hit by pitch, two singles, and a double.
In addition to his production at the plate, Stott made some difficult plays at second base. He picked a hard-hit ball on the edge of the infield in the eighth inning and fired a strike to Harper for the out.
Joe Ross pitched a shutout seventh and eighth, while Romano entered for the ninth. Romano gave up a double, a single, and a first-pitch home run to Dane Myers before even recording an out.
He was lifted for Alvarado after another single, double, and three-run home run, as boos rained down from the home crowd. Romano said he doesn’t typically dig into his film to see if he is tipping pitches, but plans to after this outing.
“Usually I don’t when it’s just maybe a blooper or something like that,” he said. “But when they’re putting that good of swings on it, for sure.”