Surging Marlins sweep Snakes behind 2nd consecutive shutout

MIAMI – You’d be hard-pressed to find a more intense Major Leaguer than Tyler Phillips.

For casual baseball fans, Phillips is the Marlins pitcher who went viral for slapping his face when running in from the bullpen to the mound.

Prior to Thursday afternoon’s start, however, Phillips shook up his routine with a more subdued approach by jogging out from the dugout to the field.

“Just felt like time,” Phillips said. “No starters ever really run out from the bullpen. My last one, I ran out and [it] wasn't my best outing. I walked the first two, so I just decided to switch it up.”

It worked, as Phillips and four relievers helped the surging Marlins sweep the D-backs in Thursday’s 2-0 victory at loanDepot park.

Miami has not given up a run in 19 consecutive frames, marking the longest span since July 28-Aug. 1, 2025 (22 IP). The Marlins also completed back-to-back shutouts during that stretch.

Since dropping a season-high five games to close out May, Miami (34-35) has won eight of nine to open June for MLB’s best record this month. The club is just one game below .500 for the first time since April 29, when it held a 15-16 record.

“We're playing a much cleaner brand, pitching at a much higher level, and I think we'll continue to get better,” Marlins manager Clayton McCullough said. “We cut down the walks as a group, and I think we'll see more and more days and stretches like this, because of the talent we have.

“This is certainly the best stretch we've played consecutively this season, and comes at a good time. Hopefully, we can just continue to play well and give ourselves some cracks in games.”

When the calendar flipped from May to June, this didn’t seem possible because the rotation had lost Eury Pérez (leg), Janson Junk (shin) and Robby Snelling (elbow) to injuries and the club surrendered 25 runs en route to a sweep by the last-place Mets.

In fact, from March 27-May 31, the starting staff had posted the second-highest ERA (4.89 ERA), tied for the 12th-highest WHIP (1.33) and compiled the 10th-highest average against (.253) in the Majors.

At the conclusion of Thursday's game, the makeshift rotation was tied with the Dodgers for first in ERA (2.09), and ranked second in WHIP (0.91) and batting average against (.195) and third in BB/9 (2.09) while taking advantage of two scheduled off-days.

“That wasn't a great three days from a performance standpoint, and certainly some of the injuries that we took on, but I think our guys just rallied around that, and again, it's next man up,” McCullough said. “We all knew the entire time that we looked around our clubhouse, we have really good players here and we had options that came up from Jacksonville that we felt really good about as well. They've all taken their opportunities and done a great job.”

Ryan Gusto, who gave up three runs in each of his first two outings since being recalled, provided four scoreless frames in Wednesday’s shutout. In Thursday’s series finale, Phillips didn’t allow a hit until Ketel Marte’s leadoff double in the fourth.

McCullough took out Phillips following Jorge Barrosa’s leadoff single in the sixth, which turned the lineup over for a third time, and Michael Petersen kept Arizona off the scoreboard.

Anthony Bender stranded runners on the corners in the seventh, while Calvin Faucher and closer Pete Fairbanks pitched a perfect eighth and ninth, respectively.

“I thought Mac did a good job of maneuvering the bullpen,” D-backs manager Torey Lovullo said. “Their starting pitching was a little bit unknown the past two days. I didn't know a lot about the guys, other than what I've seen from the data. [Max] Meyer on the first day had great stuff, but I thought they mix and match really well. They shut us down, totally shut us down. So they deserve some credit.”

The next test comes this weekend against Pittsburgh (35-33), which is 1 1/2 games ahead of the Marlins in the NL Wild Card standings pending the Pirates' rubber game against the Dodgers on Thursday night.

Ace Sandy Alcantara will start Friday coming off back-to-back seven-inning starts, while All-Star hopeful Meyer will duel reigning NL Cy Young winner Paul Skenes on Sunday. Sandwiched between will be another opener, the club’s fourth since June began.

“We've made a goal to win four games a week, and I think a lot of us have taken that really personally, and really like a lot to heart,” Phillips said. “The pitching staff coming in and just attacking, man. Early in the year, we didn't do it, and I think now we're really taking that to heart.”