Late Rally Falls Short, Marlins Beat Phillies 9-7

The Philadelphia Phillies’ offense gave starter Jerome Williams every opportunity for success Thursday night in Miami, but Williams didn’t hold up his end of the bargain in what would eventually become a 9-7 loss to open the series against the Marlins. Given a 1-0 lead before he even took the hill in the bottom of the first after Darin Ruf knocked in Andres Blanco on a sacrifice fly, Williams promptly allowed four runs in his half of the inning and was chased from the game before the second inning ended – eight runs later. Though the Phils would struggle against Miami hurler Brad Hand through six innings, they’d rally for three runs in the seventh and two more in the eighth off the bullpen to close the gap to 8-6, but the Fish platted another run in their half of the eighth when Ichiro Suzuki tripled off Adam Loewen and later scored to widen the lead. Cody Asche hit a solo homer in the ninth. For more on this game, click here.