By: Rebecca Serad, Sports Talk Philly Staff 
Final: Miami Marlins 7, Philadelphia Phillies 2 ❖ Attendance: 16,241
MIAMI — Coming into tonight's game, the Philadelphia Phillies (17-33) were 12-12 against the rest of the National League East, including their opponent, the Miami Marlins (20-30). It was enough reason to hope that they could find a way out of their current funk. Unfortunately, that was not the case. Phils starter Vince Velasquez only threw 19 pitches, pitching an inning and a third, before having to exit the game with a right elbow flexor strain. To say this is concerning would be an understatement. The Phillies starters have been struggling all season, and the news that Velasquez will be heading to the disabled list as a result of this injury leaves more question marks for the rotation. With the exception of Mark Leiter Jr., the relievers did a good job of keeping the scoring from becoming laughable.
The lack of offense didn't help matters. The recently activated Howie Kendrick hit a homer, which was good to see, but one player cannot be responsible for all of the offense. The Phils have been scored four or fewer runs in their last 11 games. That is simply unacceptable.
Tonight's loss cements the Phillies' tenth consecutive series loss. The team is a horrific 6-24 in the last 30 games. Regardless of whether or not they lose tomorrow, they will have had one of the worst months of May in franchise history.
WP: Dustin McGowan (2-0, 3.86 ERA) ❖ LP: Vince Velasquez (2-5, 5.58 ERA)
Hub: Game Summary ❖ Starting Pitchers ❖ At the Plate ❖ Bullpen ❖ What's Next
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | |
| PHI | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| MIA |
0 | 2 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | X | 7 | 10 | 2 |
The Marlins got the scoring started early in tonight's game. Left fielder Marcel Ozuna led off the second inning with a homer to left-center field to give the Marlins a 1-0 lead. Justin Bour followed with a double to right field. Bour advanced to third on a fly out to right by J.T. Realmuto. That last pitch ended up being Phillies starter Vince Velasquez's last of the night. He exited with what appeared to be an injury to either his hip, based on where he was grabbing after throwing that last pitch. It was later revealed that Velasquez had a right elbow flexor strain. Pitcher Mark Leiter Jr. entered the game in relief of Velasquez. An error by Phils second baseman Cesar Hernandez allowed Bour to score from third and Derek Dietrich to reach base safely. Leiter was able to retire the next two batters to end the inning.
The Marlins continued scoring in the third inning. Second baseman Dee Gordon reached on an infield single to extend his hitting streak to nine games. Giancarlo Stanton followed with a monster homer to give the Marlins a 4-0 lead. Christian Yelich followed with a double to left field. Ozuna singled to put runners on first and third with no outs for Bour. He walked to load the bases. Realmuto followed with a walk of his own to score a run. That marked the end of Leiter's outing; Joely Rodriguez replaced him on the mound. Rodriguez struck out Dietrich for the first out of the inning. Shortstop J.T. Riddle singled to score Ozuna from third. This brought pitcher Justin Nicolino to the plate. He bunted into a force out, with catcher Cameron Rupp getting the force out at home before rifling the ball to first. The ball got away and allowed Nicolino and Riddle to move up to second and third, respectively, and allowed Realmuto to score the fifth run of the inning. It appeared that Nicolino was injured on the play, but he ended up staying in the game for the remainder of the inning. Gordon was retired for the final out.
Marlins starter Nicolino ended up being removed in the fourth inning as a result of the hand injury he sustained on the basepath in the bottom of the third. Reliever Dustin McGowan entered the game and promptly allowed a homer to Phils left fielder Howie Kendrick, his first of the season. Aaron Altherr followed with a hard-hit single to left, but was quickly eliminated on a double play ball off the bat of Tommy Joseph. Rupp struck out to end the inning.
Both teams' offenses were quiet for a few innings. The top of the eighth changed that. Marlins reliever Brian Ellington handed back-to-back-to-back walks to Ty Kelly, Freddy Galvis and Brock Stassi to start the inning. He was then relieved by Nick Wittgren. Pinch-hitter Odubel Herrera hit a sacrifice fly to left field to score Kelly. Kendrick followed with a fly out to right, and Galvis moved up to third on the play. Altherr struck out to end the inning, as well as the only real scoring opportunity that the Phils had all day.
| IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | HR | ERA | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vince Velasquez | 1.1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 5.58 |
| Justin Nicolino | 3.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4.15 |
Phillies
- Howie Kendrick: 1-4, R, HR, RBI, .310 AVG
- Aaron Altherr: 1-4, .302 AVG
- Cesar Hernandez: 0-3, .282 AVG
Marlins
- Marcel Ozuna: 3-5, 2 R, HR, RBI, .314 AVG
- Giancarlo Stanton: 1-3, R, HR, 2 RBI, .284 AVG
- Justin Bour: 2-2, R, 2B, .285 AVG
Phillies
- Mark Leiter Jr. (2nd, 3rd): 0.2 IP, 4 H, 5 R, 4 ER, 2 BB, 1 SO, 1 HR, 5.40 ERA
- Joely Rodriguez (3rd, 4th): 1.2 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 SO, 0 HR, 5.96 ERA
- Luis Garcia (4th, 5th): 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 SO, 0 HR, 2.30 ERA
- Edubray Ramos (6th, 7th): 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 3 SO, 0 HR, 3.22 ERA
- Hector Neris (8th): 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 3 SO, 0 HR, 2.96 ERA
Marlins
- Dustin McGowan (4th, 5th, 6th): 3.0 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 3 SO, 1 HR, 3.86 ERA
- Brian Ellington (7th, 8th): 1.0 IP, 0 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 3 SO, 0 HR, 1.08 ERA
- Nick Wittgren (8th): 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 SO, 0 HR, 3.00 ERA
- Vance Worley (9th): 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 0 SO, 0 HR, 4.50 ERA
- Wednesday, May 31, 2017: at Miami Marlins, 1:10 p.m.
- Marlins Park
- RHP Aaron Nola (2-2, 4.34 ERA) vs. RHP Dan Straily (3-3, 3.83 ERA)
- TV: NBC 10; Radio: SportsRadio 94 WIP
