On a night that saw Nick Castellanos sit out of the starting lineup for the first time since 2023 for a clubhouse infraction, the Philadelphia Phillies (43-30) lost 8-3 in game two of their four-game series against the Miami Marlins (29-42) on Tuesday night behind a shaky start by Jesus Luzardo and a poor performance by the bullpen.
The Fish had 13 hits and five walks against the staff. The lone Marlins’ starter without a hit, Heriberto Hernandez, was pinch-hit for a guy who hit a home run.
The Marlins struck first in the second inning with a leadoff walk issued by Luzardo to Hernandez followed by a two-run homer by Eric Wagaman.
The Phillies began to chip away with a leadoff solo shot by Trea Turner in the top of the fourth inning.
They got two more in the top of the fifth and briefly held the lead. Otto Kemp was hit by a pitch to start the inning and a Brandon Marsh double put both runners in scoring position. Johan Rojas singled home Kemp but Rojas was thrown out on a baserunning gaffe trying to stretch his single into a double. Kyle Schwarber singled home Marsh for the last run of the inning and the game for the Phils.
Luzardo worked out of a two-baserunner jam in the bottom of the fifth and surprisingly came out again in the sixth. He walked the first two batters before he was pulled in favor of Tanner Banks. Banks got one out before allowing a ground-out RBI, an RBI triple to Javier Sanoja, and an RBI single to Xavier Edward to tip the scales from a 3-2 lead to 3-5 deficit.
Joe Ross gave up a pinch-hit solo home run to Jesus Sanchez in the bottom of the seventh and Michael Mercado got battered around for four hits and two more runs in the eighth.
Phillies’ spring training castoff, Tyler Phillips, pitched a 1-2-3 top of the seventh for the opposition.
Game three of the four-game series is tomorrow night as Ranger Suarez will face a pitcher to be named later.