PHILADELPHIA _ The Marlins' 8-0 loss to the Phillies on Saturday took 2 hours and 42 minutes, but the competitive portion of the evening was much shorter than that.
Right-hander Jose Urena got scorched for seven runs in two innings, the third time in five games in which Miami's starting pitcher failed to make it through four innings, effectively putting the game out of reach. Urena's counterpart, Philadelphia righty Jeremy Hellickson, tossed a shutout and dominated the Marlins lineup, as he has made habit of doing this season.
Don Mattingly managed for a little while as if the Marlins might come back, bringing the infield in during the fourth inning and using two different pitchers in the fifth. But by the sixth, with Hellickson cruising, Miami went full spring-training mode: Xavier Scruggs in for Christian Yelich, Derek Dietrich in for Martin Prado, Tomas Telis in for J.T. Realmuto.
The night was representative of the turns the Marlins' season has taken lately. There remains a mathematical possibility the club surges for a playoff bid, sure, and the players will continue to compete until _ as righty Tom Koehler put it Friday night _ there is a little "E" next to the team's name in the standings that means it is eliminated. But the increasingly indisputable reality is that it is almost certainly not going to happen. Not this team, not this promising young core, not this year.
Hellickson rendered Miami's bats hapless. He used 106 pitches to get through all nine innings. In six games against the Marlins this year, Hellickson _ wielding a low-90s fastball and four other regular offerings _ forged a 2.01 ERA (nine earned runs in 40 1/3 innings).
"We've had trouble basically all year long with soft-tossers. And I don't say that negatively about him," Mattingly said Saturday afternoon. "Just the fact that the guy uses his offspeed, pitches backwards basically. The changeup is a weapon, the curveball is a weapon _ then he sneaks the fastball on you. Our guys have had trouble with that type of guy."
Dee Gordon (single), Prado (single) and Dietrich (double) had Miami's only hits.
Urena lacked the dominance he displayed last weekend in his near-complete-game shutout of the Dodgers. The Phillies scored five times in the first inning, the big blow coming on A.J. Ellis' three-run double down the left-field line. Tommy Joseph _ a late addition to the Philly lineup _ sent a two-run home run to center field in the second inning to expand the lead to 7-0. The next half-inning, Mattingly sent Destin Hood to pinch-hit for Urena, ending the pitcher's night.
Justin Nicolino, released this week from his late-season purgatory to make a pair of relief appearances, allowed one run in 21/3 innings.
The Marlins dropped to 8-10 against the Phillies with one more game to play Sunday, ensuring Miami will lose the season series with Philadelphia for the eighth year in a row.
Miami is 26-39 (.419) against NL East teams.
