Jesus Luzardo’s control was off and the Phillies’ bullpen was unable to keep the Marlins at bay as the five-game winning streak came to a close.
Luzardo walked four, including back-to-back hitters in the bottom of the sixth to end his night. The Phillies had taken a one-run lead the prior half-inning on RBI singles by Johan Rojas and Kyle Schwarber but the Marlins changed the game in the sixth and kept tacking on against the bullpen in an 8-3 Phillies loss.
Tanner Banks took over for Luzardo with two on and nobody out and was nearly out of the jam with the game tied when Miguel Sanoja tripled in a run with two strikes and two outs. Xavier Edwards followed with a shallow fly ball to right field that Max Kepler appeared to lose in the lights.
Kepler was starting in right field for the first time this season in place of Nick Castellanos, who was benched by manager Rob Thomson for making an inappropriate comment after being removed in the eighth inning Monday for a defensive replacement.
The loss was the first since last Tuesday for the Phillies, who are 43-30. They have a 19-8 record against the five worst teams they’ve played — the Rockies, Marlins, Pirates, Nationals and A’s — though they’ve lost four of the last five.
Luzardo (6-3, 4.41 ERA) has undoubtedly been more effective his last two times out since adjusting his glove positioning to limit pitch-tipping with runners on base, but four walks will drive up a pitch count and hurt you no matter the weakness of the opposing offense. The Phillies have lost four of his last five starts.
A two-run deficit might have been manageable but Joe Ross (4.98 ERA, 6 HR allowed) was taken deep in the seventh inning by Jesus Sanchez, and the last man in the ‘pen — Michael Mercado — allowed two more in a long bottom of the eighth.
Philadelphia Phillies
Find the latest Philadelphia Phillies news, highlights, analysis and more with NBC Sports Philadelphia.
The Phillies play the Marlins twice more this week and have Ranger Suarez and Cristopher Sanchez on the hill. They didn’t need to use any of their main relievers in the loss.
It was another multi-hit effort for Trea Turner, who leads the National League with 90 hits and looks like a sure-fire All-Star. He launched a towering 413-foot home run to left field in his second at-bat, No. 9 on the season, all of them on the road.
The 2021 batting champ is hitting .308 and looks to set the tone again Wednesday night to start another Phillies winning streak.
