Highs And Lows From Phillies’ Series Win Over Marlins

The Phillies took 2 of 3 against Miami this weekend, which was full of highs and lows.

While mostly highs, some very jarring lows occurred that cost Philly in key moments at Citizens Bank Park on Easter weekend. The offense gained traction in the first two games with middle-of-lineup key hitting. Trea Turner and Bryce Harper both produced big hits, allowing the Phillies to get up early and torment Miami’s pitching. The inconsistent bullpen over the last few weeks held on just enough to lock down the first two victories.

But Sunday’s game revealed some troubling trends. Defensive errors and a couple of unsteady outings by the bullpens led to missed opportunities and, ultimately, defeat. Managerial decisions were questioned as well, especially in regards to bullpen deployment late in the game. Those moments were costly and prevented the Phillies from sweeping the series.

Still, winning the series is a positive move, especially as the team tries to build momentum early in the season.

High: Bryce Harper

The team as a whole hit extremely well this weekend, but if there was one person who was the personification of a superstar in this series, it was Bryce.

Harper, this series was 4-12 at the plate with 5 RBIs and a home run to add to it. This is a normal occurrence, though, against the Marlins in his career going into the series, he had hit 37 homers and had 123 RBIs in about 190 games, and has been one of the hottest players in baseball in general over the last week.

Harper has led this Phillies offense to over 7 runs per game in this series alone. If there is someone who can neutralize him, I would love to meet that man.

DOUBLE DECKER#RingTheBell pic.twitter.com/zjyKWztjuL

— Philadelphia Phillies (@Phillies) April 18, 2025

Lows: Bullpen

The Phillies’ bullpen was great in game one with Tanner Banks and Jose Ruiz being lights out, but for the most part, this was a very disappointing series out of the arms.

The worst of it was Jordan Romano. Since joining Philly this offseason, he has been a very volatile arm out of the pen, and that was on full display Saturday. In just 0.2 IP, he let up 6 runs on 6 hits and had an abysmal day.

The next game was marked by poor performances by normally solid arms in Orion Kerkering and Matt Strahm. Both were the key contributors to the loss Sunday, giving up 4 earned runs and collecting a blown save and a loss between the 2.

As a whole, the bullpen was subpar at best the last 2 days and really needs to get their act together.

High: Starting Pitching

While the bullpen struggles have been around the whole season, the starters were dealing this series. Game one marked a historic night for Zack Wheeler, getting 13 strikeouts in 7 innings of work and 0 walks, making him the first Phillie to record 13+ strikeouts and 0 walks since Vince Velasquez‘s 16-strikeout game on April 14, 2016, in the win.

Another stat that Wheeler is a part of is that with having 13 Ks and Cristopher Sanchez‘s 12 Ks on Thursday, marking the first time the Phillies have had 12+ K outings in back-to-back games since April 24-25 of 2011. The 2 guys that did it, just some dudes named Roy Halladay and Cliff Lee.

Game 2 was headlined by a “rebreakout” season by Taijuan Walker, who threw 4 innings of 1 hit, 1 run ball before getting taken out for precautionary reasons after his shoulder stiffened up.

Finally, Game 3 had a stellar performance from former Marlin Jesus Luzardo. His final stat line was 7 innings, 1 earned run, and 7 strikeouts.

The starters in this series as a whole were a very bright, bright spot, no matter how bad the bullpen was.

The Phillies had a very solid series to look back at and are looking to win another series against the team first in the NL East, the New York Mets, at 15-7. So far this year, Philly is 13-9, 2 games back of the Mets.

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