The Phillies entered the bottom of the ninth Monday night with a two-run lead, their most dependable reliever on the mound and an opportunity to escape a strange night with a victory. Instead, the Miami Marlins turned a collection of singles and one hit batter into a stunning 8-7 walk-off win at loanDepot park.
Jhoan Duran, nearly untouchable for most of the season, could not record a second out.
Jakob Marsee and Otto Lopez opened the inning with consecutive singles before Duran hit Kyle Stowers, loading the bases with nobody out. Heriberto Hernández followed with a two-run single through the middle, wiping away Philadelphia’s 7-5 advantage.
Xavier Edwards reached on a bunt single to fill the bases again. Duran briefly extended the game by getting a forceout at home, but Griffin Conine ended it by lining a single past the drawn-in infield and into right field.
The celebration belonged to a Miami team that had lost a franchise-record 12 consecutive games. The disbelief belonged to a Phillies club that had already rescued itself once.
Philadelphia trailed by three runs after two innings and received only three innings from Zack Wheeler. It then pieced together four scoreless innings from the bullpen, scored four times in the sixth and added an insurance run in the eighth.
The entire recovery disappeared in the ninth.
Duran entered the night having surrendered six runs all season. He had not allowed one since June 9. Against Miami, he yielded three runs in the span of six batters and suffered only his second blown save of the year.
That ending overshadowed an unusually vulnerable performance from Wheeler.
Bryce Harper had supplied the Phillies with an immediate advantage by hitting a two-run homer in the first, but the lead lasted only a few minutes. Miami answered with two runs in the bottom half before Conine homered to begin the second. Marsee doubled home another run and Lopez tripled, giving the Marlins a 5-2 lead.
Wheeler allowed five runs on six hits, walked one and struck out six. His three innings represented his shortest start since April 17, 2022.
More concerning than the early damage was the way his fastball looked. Wheeler’s four-seamer averaged 93.5 mph, according to Statcast, nearly two mph below his season average.
“Just one of those games,” Wheeler told MLB.com. “Just one of those days. It wasn’t coming out. No excuse. Just a bad game.”
Wheeler said he did not feel right mechanically but insisted he was not injured. Interim manager Don Mattingly offered the same assessment after the game.
“No, no,” Mattingly told reporters when asked whether the Phillies were concerned about an injury. “He said he felt physically fine. He said the ball wasn’t coming out.”
The Phillies appeared to turn the game in the sixth.
Alec Bohm began the scoring with an RBI single. J.T. Realmuto doubled home another run, and Justin Crawford added a run-scoring single. A Miami throwing error allowed Realmuto to score, completing a four-run inning and putting Philadelphia ahead, 6-5.
Bryson Stott tripled in the eighth and scored on Realmuto’s sacrifice fly, providing what looked like an important cushion.
For eight innings, the Phillies had absorbed nearly every problem the night presented. Wheeler lacked his usual power. The defense contributed to Miami’s early rally. The lineup fell into a three-run hole.
They still constructed a lead and delivered the ball to Duran.
That is what made the ending so damaging. This was not a night when the Phillies were buried by their starter’s early struggles. They had already overcome them. Nor was it a game lost because the offense disappeared entirely. Philadelphia scored seven runs and produced a four-run response when it needed one.
The Phillies reached the ninth with the exact arrangement they would ordinarily choose: a lead and Duran on the mound.
This time, even that was not enough.
The defeat was Philadelphia’s seventh in 10 games since the All-Star break. It also supplied Miami with the ending it had been unable to find throughout its losing streak.
One club walked off the field believing its worst stretch might finally be over.
The other was left to explain how a game it had saved slipped away a second time.
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