Hellickson impresses, offense provides late runs as Phillies beat Marlins

By Theo DeRosa, Sports Talk Philly staff

Final: Phillies 4, Marlins 0

MIAMI—If Monday night's start was the last that Jeremy Hellickson will make in a Phillies uniform, it was a good one.

Hellickson threw six shutout innings and allowed just one hit, coming one year to the day of Cole Hamels' no-hitter against the Chicago Cubs in the lefty's last Phillies start before being traded to the Texas Rangers as the 2015 trade deadline approached.

One year later, Hellickson finds himself a major trade target for several teams, most notably the same Marlins he shut down Monday and, to the tune of one run in eight innings, last Wednesday.

While the right-hander pitched very well Monday, he received no run support; that came later.

Tommy Joseph's RBI double in the eighth scored Maikel Franco, the deciding run. Thanks to some Miami miscues and aggressive base running, the Phillies added three more in the ninth to push the lead to 4–0, winning behind Hellickson's six innings and three scoreless frames from the bullpen in Monday's series opener.

WP: David Hernandez (2-3, 4.24) ❖ LP: Fernando Rodney (1-3, 1.55)

Hub: Game Summary ❖ Starting Pitchers ❖ At the Plate ❖ Bullpen ❖ What's Next

Game Summary

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
PHI	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	3	4	6	1
MIA	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	3

César Hernández's baserunning mistake in the first inning likely cost the Phillies a run. He tried, opportunistically, to take third base from first on Odubel Herrera's groundout, but overslid the third-base bag and was tagged out. Had he stayed on second, César likely would have scored on Maikel Franco's double to right-center.

Through the first six innings, Miami hardly threatened. The only two baserunners the Marlins managed against the Philadelphia starter came in the fourth, the result of a single by J. T. Realmuto and a walk to Christian Yelich.

The Phillies threatened heavily in the seventh inning, but again couldn't come up with any offense with runners in scoring position. Cameron Rupp walked on four pitches and Freddy Galvis reached on a bunt single. Marlins reliever Kyle Barraclough, trying to pick off Rupp at second, airmailed the ball into center field to move the runners to second and third with no outs. Cody Asche struck out on a late check-swing call with a 3-2 count (he started jogging down to first as if he'd walked before the call was appealed to third base). Peter Bourjos, too, struck out. Though Jeremy Hellickson had only 70 pitches in six innings, Ryan Howard was called on to pinch-hit in the pitcher's spot. Howard struck out swinging; Barraclough struck out the side and avoided damage.

While the Phils' struggles with RISP continue, the tie-breaking run came, somewhat surprisingly, with a runner on first. Maikel Franco, who hit the ball hard in his two official at-bats, worked his second walk of the game with two outs against Fernando Rodney, recently acquired from the San Diego Padres and struggling a good amount in Miami (though only raising his minuscule ERA to 1.55). Tommy Joseph came through again, lacing a double into left-center to continue his hot hitting and plate the first run of the game as Franco came around, helmetless, all the way from first.

The Phillies added several insurance runs against Miami closer A. J. Ramos in the ninth; Asche was hit by a pitch, with Tyler Goeddel replacing him, and Bourjos dropped down a bunt which he beat out easily. A sac bunt from Jimmy Paredes moved the runners over; César Hernández hit a single off the glove of first baseman Don Kelly to bring home Goeddel and make it 2–0. After Hernández stole second, a miscue from the Marlins chased in two more for the Phils; shortstop Adeiny Hechavarria threw wide of the plate trying to cut down Bourjos and allowed both runners to score. Franco earned his third walk the easy way as Miami issued a free pass, but the Phillies couldn't plate any more runs.

David Hernandez, Hector Neris and Jeanmar Gómez combined for three scoreless innings as the Phillies shut out the Marlins, 4–0.

On Tuesday night, Jerad Eickhoff looks to bounce back from allowing five runs over five innings against the Marlins last Thursday. Once again, he takes on right-hander Tom Koehler. The game will start at 7:10.

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