The powerful Philadelphia Phillies offense is on a roll again and will take plenty of momentum into a series opener against the visiting Miami Marlins on Tuesday.
The Phillies clubbed 14 home runs in their four-game weekend sweep over the Washington Nationals. Rhys Hoskins homered in all four games as the Phillies set a franchise record for most home runs in a single series and won for the 10th time in their last 11 games.
Philadelphia will look to stay red hot when it aims for a sixth consecutive victory.
“It’s nothing against the teams that we’ve had here in the past, but I think we have a better team,” Hoskins said. “I think we’re deeper. I think with the additions that we made at the (trade) deadline, we just got more good players. You look at teams that have won and won a lot, especially later in the year, everyone is deep.
“One guy can go down and another guy steps in. I like our depth this year, and I think it’s going to really help us and hopefully carry us into October.”
Rookie Darick Hall added two home runs in Sunday’s 13-1 rout.
“It’s a complete effort and as long as we’re doing that, we’re going to win a lot of games,” interim manager Rob Thomson said.
The Phillies will hand the ball to Zack Wheeler (10-5, 2.69 ERA) to start Tuesday. In his last start against the Atlanta Braves, Wheeler gave up five hits and one run in seven innings.
Wheeler is 9-4 with a 2.45 ERA in 18 career starts against the Marlins. He did pitch at Miami in his second start this season and was rocked for seven runs on eight hits over three innings in a loss.
The Marlins will hope to continue their positive momentum following a 3-0 victory over the Chicago Cubs on Sunday. They scored just one combined run against the Cubs while losing the first two games of the series.
Jacob Stallings and Peyton Burdick hit back-to-back home runs in the fifth inning Sunday and Jesus Luzardo gave up just one hit over seven innings with six strikeouts.
“What’s nice is to get our rotation kind of back together,” Marlins manager Don Mattingly said. “The injuries have allowed Braxton (Garrett) to come up and kind of establish himself. We’re working on some things with Trevor (Rogers) right now. But just to get that group back together, that’s one of the things I was really happy that Pablo (Lopez) stayed at the trade deadline.
“We know that moving forward, at least our rotation is intact, and it gives us a chance to stay competitive on a daily basis.”
Garrett (2-5, 3.88 ERA) is scheduled to start for the Marlins. In his last start against the Cincinnati Reds, Garrett struck out 11 to match a career high. He gave up three hits and two runs in 5 2/3 innings.
Garrett is 1-0 with a 2.89 ERA in two career starts against the Phillies.
“We have a lot of good arms,” Stallings said after hitting his home run Sunday. “We just need to keep them healthy and keep them on the field, because when we do that, we’re running five or six dudes out there that can really get outs and eat innings.”
Marlins shortstop Miguel Rojas was given a day of rest Sunday after starting the previous nine games.
–Field Level Media
