Phillies handle Marlins as Ranger Suarez shines

MIAMI, FL - The Phillies downed the Marlins 8-2 to begin a three-game weekend series in South Beach as Ranger Suarez continued his torrid stretch to begin the season. 

Coming into the night winners of eighth out of their last ten games the Phils were looking to carry on with one of their best stretches of play in recent memory and they did just that. 

Suarez took the bump for the Phils with a 6-0 record and a 1.82 ERA as he worked through the first seven games of his season with ease. The lefty allowed just nine runs in 47.0 innings of work between March and his last start against the Giants to begin May. 

Friday night in South Beach, however, Suarez took his game to another level. More commonly known as a contact pitcher, the Venezuelan conjured up nine strikeouts through 7.0 innings of scoreless baseball to back up a strong effort from the Phillies offense who held an 8-0 lead by the top of the eighth inning. 

Nick Castellanos opened the scoring for the Phils with a home run (3) to right-center field, making it 1-0 Phillies early in the top of the second inning. Johan Rojas then singled on a line drive to center field which scored Edmundo Sosa, bringing the score to 2-0 Phillies. 

When the top of the fourth came it was time for Cristian Pache to shine once again as the young outfielder doubled (1) on a line drive to right field, scoring Whit Merrifield. Kyle Schwarber quickly followed it up with a single of his own to score both Sosa and Pache - making the score 5-0.

In the top of the fifth, Rojas reached on a fielder’s choice allowing Merrifield to score and make the score 6-0. 

As the game trudged on, so did the efforts of Rojas who homered (2) to left field in the top of the seventh - bringing the score to 7-0 Phillies. 

In the eighth, it was a Bryce Harper double (6) that scored JT Realmuto giving us the final of the Phils eight runs. 

Josh Bell soon doubled (4) on a sharp line drive to left field off of Gregory Soto to allow both Christian Bethancourt and Dane Myers to score for Miami and make it 8-2. 

With the win the Phillies move to 27-12 on the season and hold a 2.0 game lead on the Atlanta Braves in the NL East. The Phils will continue with this three-game weekend series in Miami tomorrow when they take on the Fish once again for a 4:05 PM EDT first pitch. You can see the game on NBCSP and listen on 94 WIP.