Marlins prove competitive, halt Phils' win streak with all-around game

MIAMI -- Entering 2025, the National League East was considered one of the Majors’ most competitive divisions, with the Mets, Braves and Phillies all considered legitimate World Series contenders.

The Marlins, primed to field the most inexperienced club in MLB, had their work cut out for them. With an 8-3 comeback win over Philadelphia on Tuesday night at loanDepot park, Miami improved to 10-9 against division opponents so far this season.

“I think right now, whoever we're playing, I believe -- I know our guys in there, we're going to come out and put up a fight, and [they] believe they can beat anyone,” manager Clayton McCullough said. “We've been playing really good baseball now for two to three weeks outside of the one in Pittsburgh, the first day, and we've been in a lot of really close games, which I think, hopefully continues to bode well for us as you look through the first part of this season, and the number of times we've been in some tight spots to either have to go make a play or make a big pitch on the mound, come up with some good at-bats.

“So I think it just shows that these guys just hang in there in the game and kind of stick to what you believe is going to lead to the opportunity to win some tight ones.”

Trailing 3-2 in the sixth, Miami scored six unanswered runs while five relievers, including former Phillie Tyler Phillips, combined to hold Philadelphia scoreless the rest of the way. Another former Phillie, Freddy Tarnok, collected the win in his second appearance for Miami; he recorded the save in his club debut on Sunday.

Miami opened the sixth with back-to-back walks against former Marlin Jesús Luzardo, who was chased following the free passes to spoil his homecoming. The Marlins then tied the game against lefty Tanner Banks on Kyle Stowers’ slow roller to third -- the club’s second consecutive of the frame. A hyped-up Javier Sanoja drove in the go-ahead run with his first career triple, as he fired up his teammates inside the dugout. Xavier Edwards added an RBI single that right fielder Max Kepler misplayed.

“I was trying my best to transmit that emotion, that chemistry that I was feeling at the moment to my teammates, and I think I was able to do that because I think if we feel that emotion, that chemistry, good things are going to happen,” Sanoja said via interpreter Luis Dorante Jr. “Same thing that happened in that sixth inning.”

Jesús Sánchez tacked on with a pinch-hit solo homer in the seventh, extending Miami’s lead to 6-3. He lined righty Joe Ross’ changeup to straightaway center for his seventh long ball of the season. After tallying just one pinch-hit homer in 2024, the Marlins already have four in ‘25.

Agustín Ramírez and Otto Lopez drove in a run apiece in the eighth to cap the scoring, giving the Marlins seven players with an RBI -- tying a season high.

“We've got to continue doing more of this -- this and more, right?” Sánchez said via Dorante. “We have a team that actually puts the ball in play a lot, and to be honest, I was not surprised by what we had today, and I believe that we can do more.

“We don't think exactly about one single at-bat, you know? We've got to think about more collective ones as a team. That's how you produce more damage. So that's pretty much how we think about it, like more as a collective between everybody else.”

Veteran right-hander Cal Quantrill limited the Phillies to a Trea Turner solo homer through his first four innings, but he hit a batter and gave up a double to begin the fifth while attempting to pitch through a cramp in his leg. Righty Ronny Henriquez took over and allowed both inherited runners to score, handing Philadelphia a 3-2 advantage.

In the second inning, Eric Wagaman crushed a two-run homer to give the Marlins a 2-0 lead. He tattooed a center-cut 97.3 mph four-seamer from Luzardo to Home Run Harbor in center, with an exit velocity of 106.6 mph and a Statcast-projected distance of 406 feet.

Wagaman’s first long ball since May 23 also snapped Miami’s stretch of 274 consecutive at-bats across parts of nine home games without a tater, the club’s longest homerless drought since an 13-game streak in 2022 (382 at-bats).

“I think it's great,” Wagaman said. “I feel like this is what we expect to do. I think we're in a good spot, so hopefully we can just keep this rolling.”