Takeaways after Phillies continue their problems against Marlins in loss

Returning to the place where their 2020 season began to go downhill, the Philadelphia Phillies continued to have problems in the home ballpark of the Miami Marlins on Monday night.

The Marlins scored two runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to break a tie then erupted for four runs in the bottom of the seventh inning on their way to hanging a 9-6 loss on the Phillies.

The Phillies were without slumping Bryce Harper and injured J.T. Realmuto.

Harper is expected to be back in the lineup on Tuesday night.

The loss was the Phillies’ seventh in their last nine games, dropping them two games under .500 and into fourth place in the NL East.

An explosive inning vs. Kintzler, Eflin’s night, more errors

The Marlins had eight extra-base hits in Monday night’s game. Corey Dickerson’s two-run triple in the sixth broke a 2-2 tie. An inning later, Adam Duvall put the game out of reach with a three-run homer against Brandon Kintzler.

Phillies starter Zach Eflin allowed six hits and four runs over six innings. One of the runs was unearned after shortstop Ronald Torreyes made an error in the sixth inning prior to Dickerson’s tie-breaking triple.

The Phillies made two errors in the game. Poor defense has plagued the Phillies all season.

Miami scored its first run of the game in the bottom of the second inning on a sacrifice fly to left field by Sandy Leon. The ball was hit shallow enough that a good throw from Andrew McCutchen might have cut down Brian Anderson at the plate. McCutchen, however, did not deliver a strong throw.

An interesting 9th involving Miller’s 100th

The Phillies made things interesting with four runs in the top of the ninth but ultimately came up short.

Brad Miller started the rally with a solo homer to dead center field, the 100th of his career.

Continuing struggle vs. Marlins

The Phillies are 1-3 against the Marlins this season and 4-10 against them since the start of last season. On their previous trip to Miami last September 10-14, the Phillies lost five of seven to the Marlins. That performance put a serious crumple in the Phillies’ postseason chances and they ended up missing the playoffs for a ninth straight season.

Up next

Vince Velasquez of the Phillies will oppose Sandy Alcantara of the Marlins in game two of a four game series Tuesday night.