Early surge extends win streak
Nicolino exits after sustaining finger injury on bunt.
MIAMI — It was not a safe night to be a starting pitcher at Marlins Park.
The Phillies’ Vince Velasquez was knocked out in the second inning with an elbow injury. The Marlins’ Justin Nicolino came out after the third with a bruised finger on his throwing hand.
In the end, the Marlins won the game of attrition, handing the Phillies a 7-2 loss to run their winning streak to three. The Marlins will go for their first sweep of the season in today’s afternoon series finale.
They will put a poor month to rest in the process.
At least they will close out May on a high note if they can get past the Phillies, who are going backward in a hurry in the National League East, sliding below the Marlins into the division cellar.
The night started badly for the Phillies in the second when Velasquez gave up a home run to Marcell Ozuna, a double to Justin Bour and a deep fly ball to J.T. Realmuto. Velasquez didn’t throw another pitch after that, lifted with a right elbow flexor tendon injury.
N o t t h a t t h e Ma r l i n s ’ starter, Nicolino, lasted much longer. He bruised a finger on his left throwing hand when he dropped down a bunt in the Marlins’ five-run third. To that point, Nicolino hadn’t allowed a hit.
But he didn’t return for t h e f o u r t h . T h e Marl i n s announced his injury as dayto-day. The bullpen had to cover the final six innings, but had plenty of breathing room thanks to the Marlins’ early scoring outburst.
Giancarlo Stanton hit his team-leading 14th home run, a two-run drive off rookie reliever Mark Leiter, nephew of former Marlins pitcher Al Leiter. Realmuto drew a bases-loaded walk and J.T Riddle singled to drive in a run.
All-Star votes scarce: The Marlins are hosting the All-Star Game on July 11. But unless there’s some seismic shift in fan voting, no Marlin will be in the starting lineup.
When t h e f i r s t v o t i n g u p d a t e f o r t h e Nat i o n a l League team was released Tuesday, the Marlins didn’t have a player among the top five vote-getters at each position.
Ozuna and Stanton were seventh and eighth, respectively, among outfielders.
The absence of Marlins is nothing new. Only six times have fans voted a Marlin into the starting lineup and one of those, Gary Sheffield in 1993, had been traded from the Padres to the Marlins in late June.
Hanley Ramirez was the starting shortstop three consecutive years from 200810. And while second baseman Dee Gordon and Stanton were voted on as starters in 2015, injuries prevented them from playing. Ozuna started last year’s All-Star Game, but as a last-minute injury replacement.
A case could be made for catcher J.T. Realmuto. But he failed to crack the top five in the first update.
Lineup working: Manager Don Mattingly raised more than a few eyebrows when he posted the lineup card last week in Oakland. Mattingly had Stanton batting second — an unlikely spot for a pure slugger.
But the odd lineup configuration has provided positive results.
In six games entering Tuesday, Stanton had hit .423 with two homers. The Marlins went 4-2 in that stretch.
“We’ve tried a lot, so why not?” Stanton said of the funky lineup, one of several Mattingly has tried in an effort to get something going offensively.