The Phillies didn’t wait around for offense to show up Sunday.
They forced the issue — immediately.
A six-run first inning, fueled by patience and one big swing from Bryson Stott, set the tone for a 7-2 win over the Marlins in Miami. It was the kind of response a lineup needed after being one-hit a day earlier. This time, there was no quiet start. No feeling things out. Just pressure from the first pitch.
Trea Turner opened the game with a double. Two walks followed. And suddenly, the inning belonged to the Phillies.
Alec Bohm got them on the board with an RBI fielder’s choice that Miami couldn’t turn into an out. Brandon Marsh forced in another run with a bases-loaded walk. J.T. Realmuto added a sacrifice fly. And then Stott delivered the knockout blow — turning on a 2-2 cutter from Chris Paddack and sending it just over the wall in right-center for a three-run homer.
Six runs. Nine batters. Thirty-eight pitches.
Game flipped.
Stott, who entered the series without a home run, now has two in three days — both three-run shots, both tone-setters.
From there, it was Jesús Luzardo’s game to control.
Facing his former club, Luzardo looked increasingly like the version the Phillies believed they were getting. He struck out 10 over 6 1/3 innings, allowing two runs without issuing a walk for the second straight start. The fastball had life. The changeup disappeared late. And the sweeper — his best weapon on the day — generated empty swings at a 50 percent clip.
He wasn’t perfect. Eight hits is more traffic than ideal. But none of it turned into sustained damage.
That’s the difference.
Luzardo pitched out of trouble, kept the ball in the yard until the seventh, and never gave Miami a real path back into the game. The only dent came on a two-run homer by Esteury Ruiz in the seventh — more cosmetic than consequential by that point.
Over his last two starts, Luzardo has quietly shifted the conversation. His ERA, once sitting at 6.91, is down to 5.09. More importantly, the command has stabilized. Zero walks in back-to-back outings. That’s not noise — that’s a sign.
Justin Crawford tacked on an RBI single in the third to account for the Phillies’ seventh run, more than enough support for a pitching staff that simply needed a lead to protect.
They got one early. And never let it slip.
The Phillies will try to lock up their second straight series Monday night, with Aaron Nola scheduled to face Janson Junk in the wraparound finale.
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