MIAMI _ Giancarlo Stanton's majestic shot seemed normal by his standards, ricocheting hard off the bright orange wall in left-center field for the Miami Marlins' opening run in a 10-9 win over the Philadelphia Phillies and his 52nd home run of the year.
Marcell Ozuna, mere minutes later, followed with a fly to left that wasn't hit as hard and didn't go as far, but counted for twice as much, with Christian Yelich on base to score ahead of him on his 32nd home run of the year.
Yelich didn't go deep like his outfield cohorts, instead settling for a triple and two runs in his three-hit night.
Together, the Marlins' starting outfielders went 8 for 15 with five runs scored and five driven in as Miami snapped a five-game losing streak.
The collective effort highlighted one of the themes of the Marlins' season: Their outfield is the best in baseball.
That's not hyperbole. The starting trio, plus backup/legend Ichiro Suzuki, have combined for 8.5 Wins Above Replacement this year, according to Baseball Reference. That is by far the most of any major league team.
Next on the list are the Aaron Judge-led Yankees at 5.6 WAR, then the Rays and defensive wiz Kevin Kiermaier at 5.5 WAR. The second best NL team is the Mets, who at 4.0 WAR rank sixth in the majors.
Stanton, Ozuna and Yelich have resoundingly settled a popular preseason debate: Which outfield is the majors' best? Among the common alternatives to Miami during spring training were the Red Sox, who have Andrew Benintendi, Jackie Bradley Jr. and Mookie Betts, and the Pirates, who opened the year with Gregory Polanco, Starling Marte and Andrew McCutchen.
The Marlins have left no doubt about the answer, for at least the rest of this season. Stanton has 111 RBIs, Ozuna 107 _ both top-five marks in the big leagues. Even Yelich, who has taken a step back offensively from last year, has rated as a well above-average hitter with a .285/.368/.447 slash line entering Saturday, plus 16 homers and 70 RBIs.
(Boston's outfield has 4.1 WAR, but Pittsburgh has dealt with injuries and Marte's PED suspension en route to -2.7 WAR, among the worst totals in baseball.)
Stanton, Ozuna and Yelich _ while combing for 100 homers _ have also managed to stay remarkably healthy in a year in which the Marlins have lost infielders like Stanton loses batting-practice balls. All three have started in every game since Aug. 10.
That was the case again in the team's win Saturday, a game in which the Marlins never trailed, though the Phillies kept it close.
Philadelphia scored five runs against left-hander Jarlin Garcia in the eighth inning. Right-hander Drew Steckenrider got the final four outs for his first major league save.
Right-hander Dan Straily tossed five innings, allowing four runs on a pair of two-run homers. Miami answered each of those _ in the fourth and fifth innings _ with a combined three runs.
Most of Miami's damage came against Philly righty Aaron Nola, who yielded six runs in five innings.
Derek Dietrich added a pinch-hit, three-run homer in the seventh. Tomas Telis (triple), Miguel Rojas and Dee Gordon (triple) all had multi-hit efforts, Gordon for the seventh game in a row.
Phillies center fielder Pedro Florimon left the game injured in the second inning. In beating out an infield single, Florimon badly twisted his ankle when he stepped on the edge of the first-base bag. He appeared to be in serious pain and was taken off the field on a stretcher. The game was delayed for about 10 minutes.
