The Marlins put on an offensive display Tuesday evening in Philadelphia, and it almost wasn’t enough. The Marlins put up 3 runs in the top of the 1st and 4 more runs in the top of the 2nd giving rookie Chris Volstad a comfortable cushion to pitch with. Unfortunately Volstad would leave after the 3rd inning, having been hit in the thigh by a hot shot back up the middle. The Marlins were winning 7-1 when Volstad left, after that point things got interesting.

Eulogio De La Cruz relieved, if you can call it that, Volstad. In 2 innings of work De La Cruz was knocked around and gave up 5 hits and 6 ER. Kevin Gregg pitched a solid 7th inning to get credit for the win, while Matt Lindstrom got the final out of the game and got credit for the save, his 2nd.

Philadelphia starter Kyle Kendrick didn’t fair well himself, giving up 7 runs in 1 1/3 innings of work. Cody Ross, Jorge Cantu, and Mike Jacobs homered in the game and Dan Uggla and Hanley Ramirez had key RBI shots as well. The Phillies and Marlins used a combined 15 pitchers to finish their 9 inning game. The Marlins used 8 different pitchers and the Phillies 7. In the end, the Marlins were able to hold onto their early lead and won 10-8.

The win knocked the Phillies back to 2 1/2 games off the pace in the NL East and kept the Marlins very slim playoff hopes ticking. The Fish remain 8 1/2 games back with one more game against Philadelphia this week before starting a weekend set with the Washington Nationals. Lets hope our Marlins from April/May show up against the Nationals, maybe we can make the NL East a little more interesting down the stretch!