MIAMI — Another big day by the offense led to the Miami Marlins clinching their first series of the season.
A four-run second inning set the tone and the Marlins kept tacking on in their 11-3 win over the Philadelphia Phillies on Sunday at loanDepot park. Four players had multi-hit outings as Miami (4-5) took three of four games against Philadelphia (4-6). The Marlins won the first two games of the series 4-3 on Thursday and 7-1 on Friday before dropping the third game 10-3 on Saturday.
In the finale, everyone contributed. All nine players in the starting lineup reached base at least once and scored at least one run.
Jesus Sanchez had three hits and two RBI. Brian Anderson reached base four times and scored three runs. Jazz Chisholm Jr. drove in three runs and scored once. Joey Wendle and Miguel Rojas each had two RBIs and a run scored as well.
Each of the Marlins’ first four batters reached base in the second inning, with Anderson drawing a walk, Chisholm driving Anderson home with an RBI triple that skipped past first base and to the right field wall, Bryan De La Cruz driving Chisholm home with an RBI single on a ground ball up the middle and Rojas driving home De La Cruz with an RBI triple on a line drive to right field. Sanchez then drove in Rojas with a two-out RBI single to right.
The two triples in the inning gave the Marlins five over the four-game series. It marked the third time in franchise history that the Marlins had at least five triples in their first nine games (five in 2000, six in 2007) and the first time since the 1990 Chicago White Sox that a team recorded five triples in their first four home games of a season.
Miami added insurance runs with a Rojas RBI single in the third that scored De La Cruz, a Wendle two-run single in the fourth that scored Jorge Soler and Sanchez, a Chisholm RBI double and Payton Henry RBI groundout in the sixth, a Chisholm sacrifice fly in the seventh and a Sanchez RBI single that scored Henry in the eighth.
They chased Zach Wheeler, last season’s runner-up for the National League Cy Young Award, in the fourth inning.
The offense backed up a strong start from Elieser Hernandez, who gave up just one run — a solo home run by Bryce Harper — over a career-high-tying six innings of work. He struck out five while just scattering five hits and issuing one walk.
It was the sixth time in his career that Hernandez pitched six innings, with the other five all coming in the 2019 season. He allowed one run or fewer in two of those other five outings.
Cole Sulser, Anthony Bass and Louis Head pitched the final three innings, holding Philadelphia to two runs — a Harper RBI double to left in the seventh against Sulser and a Kyle Schwarber home run to right in the eighth against Bass.
