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PHILADELPHIA » Carlos Santana had three hits, including one of Philadelphia’s four homers, and Zach Eflin allowed three runs in eight strong innings to lead the Phillies to an 8-3 victory over the Miami Marlins on Saturday night.
Cesar Hernandez, Nick Williams and Asdrubal Cabrera also went deep for the Phillies, who won their fourth straight to move 1½ games ahead of Atlanta for first place in the NL East.
Justin Bour and Miguel Rojas homered for Miami, which has dropped five in a row and nine of 12.
Eflin (8-3) gave up four hits with six strikeouts and no walks to reverse his recent fortunes. The right-hander entered 0-1 with a 6.92 ERA in his last three outings, but started strong on Saturday by retiring the first 12 Marlins before Bour led off the fifth with a towering homer to deep center. The right-hander retired eight of the next nine before a single and Rojas’ two-run shot to start the eighth. Eflin got the next three batters to end his night after just 85 pitches.
The Phillies staked Eflin to a 5-0 lead through three thanks to Williams’ three-run, opposite-field homer to left in the first and Cabrera’s two-run shot to right in the third. It was Cabrera’s first home run for the Phillies, who acquired the veteran infielder from the Mets on July 27 to bolster their offense.
After Bour made it a 5-1 game, Santana led off the bottom of the fifth with a 423-foot drive to the second deck.
It was the third homer surrendered by Jose Urena (3-11), who continued his season-long slump after a strong 2017 campaign. The right-hander allowed six runs on eight hits in five innings to raise his ERA to 4.66. Urena has struggled even more lately, going 1-3 with a 6.40 ERA while giving up 37 hits in 32 1/3 innings over his last seven outings.