Jean Segura was merely trying to get the ball in the air far enough to drive home Andrew McCutchen from third.
He did a little better.
Segura’s two-run homer off struggling Taiwanese pitcher Chen Wei-yin in the 14th inning on Sunday put Philadelphia on top as they beat the Miami Marlins 3-1 in the longest game of the season for either team.
Photo: AFP
“I was trying to battle,” Segura said. “He hung a slider.”
A few minutes later, the marathon was over.
Scott Kingery had three hits and Cesar Hernandez got his first homer of the season, while starter Vince Velasquez had a no-hitter going through 5-2/3 innings and eight Phillies pitchers combined to limit the Marlins to a five-of-45 day at the plate.
“The bullpen kept us in the game,” Segura said. “Huge for us.”
Chen (0-1) came on to pitch the 14th, was charged with two runs and his ERA actually dipped from 24.75 to 23.40.
Chen — the highest-paid Marlins player this season, making US$20 million — has allowed 12 runs over three innings of relief in his past two appearances.
He gave up a triple to McCutchen and Segura connected one batter later.
“He’s battling,” Marlins manager Don Mattingly said of Chen. “It’s where we’re at with him right now. Basically, he’s got to get through this.”
Miami batters struck out 18 times, tied for the fourth-most times in franchise history.
Brian Anderson homered for the Marlins, whose 18-strikeout game came one day after an 18-hit effort.
“We just never really got anything going,” Mattingly said.
Velasquez allowed two hits, walked three and struck out four against a Marlins lineup that came in batting .230 and had three starters entering the day under .200.
“We understand that Vince is definitely a work in progress,” Kapler said. “He has two quality outings under his belt at this point. We feel good about those.”
The lone run against Velasquez was Anderson’s homer that tied the game at 1-1.
That was the way it stayed for the next 2 hours, 51 minutes — until Segura connected.
“He did a good job hitting that pitch,” Chen said through a translator. “It really wasn’t that bad a location.”
Elsewhere, the Rockies routed the Giants 4-0, the Red Sox beat the Orioles by the same score, the Dodgers thrashed the Brewers 7-1, the White Sox 5 defeated the Yankees 5-2 and the Royals edged the Indians 9-8.
The Braves 7 beat the Mets 7-3, the Astros edged the Mariners 3-2, the Cardinals 9 outhit the Reds 9-5, the Rays defeated the Blue Jays 8-4, the Pirates 4 outlasted the Nationals 4-3, the Twins beat the Tigers 6-4, the Rangers 8 edged the Athletics 8-7 and the Diamondbacks downed the Padres 8-4.
Additional reporting by staff writer
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