KANSAS CITY -- Graham Pauley drove in a career-high four runs in his return to the Majors, while right-hander Tyler Phillips tossed five scoreless innings in the Marlins’ 6-3 victory over the Royals on Tuesday night at Kauffman Stadium.
Miami (70-69) moved within three games of San Diego and Arizona (73-66), the latter of which was playing late against Philadelphia, for the third and final National League Wild Card spot. The Marlins hold the head-to-head tiebreaker -- for now -- against the D-backs after sweeping them in June. The clubs will meet later this month for a three-game set in Phoenix.
Pauley, who was recalled from Triple-A Jacksonville as part of September roster expansion, slugged a two-run homer in the second inning to give Miami a 2-0 lead.
Kyle Stowers added a solo shot in the fifth, extending the lead to 3-0. After striking out in his first two at-bats, he crushed Royals right-hander Randy Dobnak’s sweeper a Statcast-projected 412 feet to right field for his first homer since July 31.
In a three-run seventh, Pauley’s second career triple went to the right-center gap, scoring Otto Lopez and Joe Mack and chasing Dobnak. Javier Sanoja, starting at second base for injured Xavier Edwards, tacked on an RBI single.
Pauley, who was injured for most of Spring Training while competing with Connor Norby (now with the Rockies) for the starting third-base job, is out of single-season Minor League options after shuttling back and forth between the Majors and Minors in 2026. He entered the series opener batting just .194/.228/.306 with nine doubles and one homer in 115 plate appearances across five Major League stints.
Phillips, meanwhile, allowed just one hit -- a leadoff single to Carter Jensen in the first -- with two walks and four strikeouts. He faced just one batter over the minimum in a 69-pitch start, and his first scoreless outing since July 8.
Right-hander Calvin Faucher pitched a scoreless sixth, while righty Victor Vodnik allowed two runs in the eighth after a perfect seventh. Righty Tyler Zuber surrendered a two-out solo shot to Nick Loftin in the ninth.