Phillies Vs. Marlins: Archie Bradley Implodes in an Another Awful Loss in Miami

Archie Bradley implodes in another awful Phillies loss in Miami originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

Ranger Suarez, Hector Neris and Connor Brogdon had shut the Marlins out for seven innings. The offense hadn't done much, but just enough.

The Phillies were on their way to evening another all-important, late-season series in Miami. 

Then they suffered the gut-punch that always seems to occur at Marlins Park. Archie Bradley allowed three eighth-inning runs, including a go-ahead, opposite-field two-run homer to Lewis Brinson. The Phillies lost, 3-2.

The Phils are 69-66 with 27 games to play. They began the night two games behind the Braves, who are still playing at Coors Field.

The Phillies have lost 20 of their last 31 games at Marlins Park. They are 7-8 in the season series and have hit .216.

It was the Phillies’ 11th loss of the season when leading in the eighth inning or later. The only team in the majors that has dropped more games in those situations is the Marlins.

Andrew McCutchen put them on the board in the fourth inning with his 23rd home run of the season. Suarez, the starting pitcher, added an excuse-me RBI double in the inning. 

Suarez pitched five scoreless innings with seven strikeouts. He has a 1.71 ERA in seven starts since joining the Phillies' rotation. Over that span, Aaron Nola's ERA is 5.46, Zack Wheeler's is 4.81 and Kyle Gibson's is 4.79.

Saturday was crucial to this three-game set because the Phillies are going with a bullpen game Sunday. Now, they've already lost the series with a chance to be swept, which would cancel out the positivity of the series they just swept in D.C.

The Phils have four games left with the Marlins. They can control whether or not they hear all offseason about Miami again having their number. This weekend has not inspired much hope.

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