MIAMI _ The Miami Marlins came into their three-game series against the Philadelphia Phillies _ their final home series before the All-Star break _ looking to regroup after being swept by the Washington Nationals to begin the six-game homestand.
The offense needed a kick start. The starting pitching needed to find a way to avoid the sixth-inning implosions that occurred the two nights prior. And the team overall needed to find a way to generate success at home after losing 11 of their last 13 inside Marlins Park.
Consider Friday a step in the right direction. The offense showed up early and often, Elieser Hernandez provided a solid start on the mound and the Marlins opened the series with a 6-2 win. It's the Marlins' fourth consecutive win against the Phillies.
Brian Anderson put the Marlins (31-49) up top for good early with an RBI double to the center-field wall in the first inning that scored Harold Ramirez and a two-run home run to right field _ his 11th homer of the year _ in the third. Both hits came with two outs.
Garrett Cooper tacked on with RBI singles in the fifth and seventh, finishing the game with three hits. The fifth-inning hit knocked out starter Vince Velasquez and forced the Phillies (43-39) to rely on their bullpen the rest of the way. The seventh-inning hit, which came at the end of a seven-pitch at-bat and dropped into shallow right-center field, capped a two-run flurry to extend the Marlins' lead. JT Riddle started the inning with leadoff home run, his fifth of the year.
Friday was Cooper's fifth game this year with at least three hits.
It backed up a solid performance by Hernandez, who picked up his first win of the season. Hernandez, making his fourth start in place of Caleb Smith, held the Phillies to two runs on three hits and two walks while tying a season high seven strikeouts over 5 2/3 innings. Hernandez carried a no-hitter into the fifth inning before running into his only jam of the night.
Maikel Franco hit a double to left field to give the Phillies their first hit of the night. Velasquez followed with a 364-foot home run that barely stayed inside the left-field foul pole to temporarily get the Phillies within a run. Hernandez induced back-to-back groundouts to end the inning.
Overall, Hernandez has allowed just nine earned runs on 17 hits and five walks while striking out 26 in 22 1/3 innings in four starts.
Jarlin Garcia (1/3 inning), Austin Brice (one inning), Nick Anderson (one inning) and Sergio Romo (one inning) sealed the win. The quartet retired 10 of 11 batters they faced, striking out four along the way.
