MIAMI — First baseman Kyle Stowers homered for the fourth consecutive game and right-hander Tyler Phillips threw five scoreless innings as the Marlins blanked the Seattle Mariners 2-0 at loanDepot park, extending Miami’s winning streak to five games and its record since June 1 to an MLB-best 25-8.
The Marlins improved to 51-42 — nine games over .500 for the first time since July 18, 2023, when the club stood at 53-44. Miami has won 15 of its past 17 home games, the best home mark in the Majors dating to May 22, and has captured six consecutive home series.
“Innings one through nine, game’s never over,” Stowers said. “We kind of saw that yesterday, their ability to just keep knocking on the door and staying in it, and our ability to respond and not fall flat. That was really cool. Obviously, they’re a really, really good team, but we believe in ourselves against everyone. We think we’re a really good team as well, and we prepare well. It’s always fun playing against teams that you see make deep postseason runs.”
Stowers ambushed righty George Kirby’s first-pitch knuckle curve to open the second inning, sending it to straightaway center for a 1-0 lead. The blast continued a power resurgence for the 2025 All-Star, who has posted a .960 OPS since June 1. The Marlins hold a 31-3 record — a .912 winning percentage — when outhomering their opponent, trailing only the Rays (24-1, .960). Miami has slugged 16 home runs this month, second most in the Majors, despite ranking eighth fewest overall with 94.
Phillips worked around four hits and two walks to keep Seattle scoreless, bouncing back from a rough outing in West Sacramento where he allowed five runs. Lefty Cade Gibson followed with two scoreless frames, retiring all six batters he faced. Righty Michael Petersen tossed a perfect eighth, and closer Pete Fairbanks collected his 13th save to complete Miami’s eighth shutout — tied for the third most in the Majors.
“We do have what it takes to be a really good team,” Phillips said. “These guys, they fight. I wear this Fightin’ Fish shirt a lot. Like every time I come out of a game, I put this shirt on. We’re the Fightin’ Fish, man, we’re going to fight to the last pitch. Even if it doesn’t look good. These guys go out there and I don’t see anyone ever give an AB away. Pitching, we preach, ‘Do not give pitches away.’ Everybody’s stuff is so good.”
“We’re playing a really good brand of baseball,” manager Clayton McCullough said. “Again, talking about the pitching and how well guys have performed on that end, but defensively it’s cleaner, and getting, again, a lot of contributions tonight. It’s nice right now that we’re taking some really good at-bats all the way up and down the lineup, and we’re pitching at a high rate. When you play this type of baseball, you can go against a lot of really good teams and give yourself a chance to win.”
The Marlins can sweep the Mariners — who won the American League West in 2025 and fell one game short of the World Series in a seven-game ALCS loss to the Blue Jays — when righty Janson Junk returns from the injured list for the series finale Thursday at loanDepot park.