Hellickson mystifies Marlins
Phillies pitcher dominates as Miami limps home after 3-5 trip
PHILADELPHIA — If Thursdaywas a test for the Miami Marlins, a way to measure their progress from last season to this one, it didn’t portend great things for the 2017 edition of the team. Philadelphia Phillies right-hander Jeremy Hellickson is still really, really good against them.
Hellickson tossed six innings of one-run ball in theMarlins’ 3-2 loss to the Phillies at Citizens Bank Park. For Hellickson, that represented a continuation of last year’s dominance. He owns a1.94ERA and 0.88 WHIP in seven games against theMarlins since the start of 2016, his first season in Philadelphia.
Thelosscappeda threeseries, 7,193-mile road trip for theMarlins. Theywent 3-5 and return to Miami at 10-10 after dropping the last two to the Phillies, which frustrated manager DonMattingly.
“A little bit. A lot, actually,” Mattingly said. “Didn’t feel a lot of energy, even in the seventh there [during a Marlins rally]. We don’t show a lot of juice even as we’re getting back in it. We may have to do some things a little differently.” Dowhat differently? “Just mix some things up,” he said. “It’s not something Iwould come in and tell [reporters].”
Miami’s lone run against Hellickson came on J.T. Realmuto’s twoout, line-drive single in the sixth. That ended Hellickson’s run of 14 scoreless innings against the Marlins, including his shutout against them last September. On Thursday he scattered seven hits, struck out one andwalked none.
TheMarlins’ only hit in the first three innings was Realmuto’s line-drive single that left fielder Daniel Nava caught, butwas ruled a hit. Because the Phillies used and lost their challenge in the first inning, they were unable to challenge that call.
Hellickson began to wilt ever so slightly in the middle innings. Miami put runners on the corners with nobody out in the fourth, but the dangerous threesome of Giancarlo Stanton, Marcell Ozuna and Realmuto failed to the get the ball out of the infield. Martin Prado simi-
larly couldn’t plate a run when he batted with two on and two out in the fifth.
“Still a work in progress, obviously, that we weren’t able to get into him a little bit,” Mattingly said. “We had a couple chances there. We put a couple guys on and don’t do anything with him.”
Hellickson induced 10 ground outs (to zero fly outs) and threw first-pitch strikes to 15 of2 5 batters. On the day, the Marlins left eight men on base and went 2 for 11 with runners in scoring position.
“We keep giving that first strike, where he runs the ball off the plate and we’re swinging,” Mattingly said. “I seen numerous swings where you know it’s ball one, really, and instead of 1-0 it’s 0-1.
“That’s one of the areas we got to improve on, not chasing out of the strike zone early in the count to put him in situations where he can do what hewants.”
Added Realmuto, who went 2 for 4: “He does a good job moving the ball around on us. He doesn’t leave a lot of pitches over plate and works his changeup in whenever hewants to.”
Hellickson’s counterpart, Edinson Volquez, allowed three runs (two earned) in 5 2⁄ innings, a 3 representative sample of the way his season has gone. He worked into and out of trouble, allowing six hits and four walks, and benefited from a few hard-hit balls hit at defenders.
“Early in the game today, I was fighting myself to find my rhythm,” Volquez said.
The Phillies scored runs on ground outs in the first and third innings. In the sixth, Michael Saunders worked a one-out single, and two batters later Brock Stassi’s triple into the right-field corner brought him home. That ended Volquez’s day.
Volquez’s 4.44 ERA on the year matches the 4.44 ERA in his career. He has averaged fewer than five innings per start.
“He kind of battled allday,” Mattingly said. “His command was not great. … I liked theway he hung in there.”