MIAMI — Marlins right-hander Tyler Phillips turned in his first quality start of the season Monday night, allowing two runs over six innings against the Texas Rangers while drawing energy from thousands of Scottish soccer fans who packed the ballpark.
Phillips threw 89 pitches — 60 of them strikes — and recorded four strikeouts while scattering five hits and two walks. The only real damage came in the fourth inning, when Ezequiel Duran launched a 93.8 mph sinker a Statcast-projected 407 feet to center field for a two-run home run after Brandon Nimmo singled.
“Everything I throw moves, so just trying to do my job towards … like that sixth inning, I started running out of gas a little bit,” Phillips said. “Which I think is not normal for me. Getting up to 90 pitches started to get a little taxing for me, but other than that, one mistake.”
The outing marked a sharp turnaround from Phillips’ June 16 start, when he gave up eight earned runs, including three homers in four innings of work. He said the emphasis during his bullpen sessions between starts was being more on the attack and pitching with more conviction within the zone. In the sixth Monday, he worked through trouble after walking Nimmo and Jake Burger, getting Duran — the same hitter who had homered off him — to ground into a double play.
“Nimmo just had a great game,” Phillips said. “Just kind of bullying me out there. I was supposed to get a sinker in, and I just kind of threw a scare pitch and left it over the middle a bit, and the guy hit it. But overall, I thought it was a much better bounce-back outing for myself.”
Marlins manager Clayton McCullough praised the performance. “Tyler was terrific,” McCullough said. “A real bounce-back outing. The strike throwing, I think it was 60 strikes out of almost 90 pitches. [The Rangers] were very aggressive early on him, and I think that played well for Tyler because he was in the zone with a variety of pitches and was able to keep them off the barrel for the most part.”
Phillips said the atmosphere created by the Scottish fans — who arrived in kilts, draped in Scotland flags and wearing national team jerseys — was unlike anything he had experienced since throwing a complete game with the Phillies. “It was electric,” Phillips said. “If I’m just driving around tonight and I see anyone in trouble, and they’re wearing a kilt, I might pull over and help them. They just gave me energy. I wanted to reciprocate what they were bringing. It was awesome.”