Ranger Suarez struck out nine in seven scoreless innings, and Nick Castellanos homered in front of his hometown fans as the Philadelphia Phillies defeated the host Miami Marlins 8-2 on Friday night.

Castellanos is from Davie, Fla., 24 miles from the Marlins’ stadium. Phillies center fielder and nine-hole hitter Johan Rojas also homered, going 3-for-5 with two RBIs.

Suarez (7-0) continued his impressive start, lowering his ERA to 1.50. He allowed three hits and two walks as the Phillies won for the 12th time in 14 games.

The Phillies (27-12) have the best record in the National League.

Miami (10-30) has one of the worst records in the majors, and it trails the Phillies by 17 1/2 games in the National League East.

Trevor Rogers (0-6) took the loss as the Marlins fell to 0-8 when he starts this season. He is also 1-6 in 10 career starts against Philadelphia.

Rogers, 5-19 since the start of 2022, allowed nine hits, two walks and five runs, four earned, in 3 1/3 innings.

The Phillies opened the scoring with two runs in the second. Castellanos homered on the first pitch of the inning, driving a changeup 400 feet to the opposite field. He hit a pitch that was low and outside, smacking the ball to right-center.

With one out in the same frame, Edmundo Sosa doubled. One out later, Sosa scored on Rojas’ single to center.

The Phillies extended their lead to 5-0 in the fourth on a rally that started with a fielding error by Marlins third baseman Jake Burger. After Sosa drew a walk, Christian Pache stroked an opposite-field RBI double to right-center. One out later, Kyle Schwarber delivered a two-run single.

Philadelphia made it 6-0 in the fifth with another unearned run. Whit Merrifield drew a leadoff walk and scored when Rojas’ chopper deflected off Burger’s glove for an error.

The Phillies cruised from there although Miami’s Josh Bell hit a two-run double in the eighth to cut its deficit to 8-2.

–Field Level Media