PHILADELPHIA (AP) Jake Arrieta had some tough luck in a short debut.
Arrieta lasted just four innings Sunday in his first start for the Phillies, and Philadelphia lost 6-3 to the Miami Marlins on Brian Anderson’s tiebreaking two-run double in the eighth inning.
Arrieta was charged with three runs – two earned – and three hits while striking out five. He surrendered a solo homer to Miguel Rojas, the second batter he faced.
”I was erratic at first,” Arrieta said. ”Got through four innings, pretty crisp the last three. Very optimistic moving forward.”
Arrieta, the 2015 NL Cy Young Award winner with the Cubs, joined the Phillies a month into spring training, signing a $75 million, three-year deal that could be worth up to $135 million over five seasons.
Wearing short sleeves on a cold day – 44 degrees at first pitch – Arrieta retired 10 of his last 11 hitters after a rough first inning. He left after throwing 74 pitches but expects to throw about 85 to 90 in his next outing.
”We want to make sure he’s healthy and strong,” manager Gabe Kapler said. ”We’re all on the same page. It was a great performance.”
The Marlins scored three runs off Luis Garcia (0-1) and Adam Morgan in the eighth to take a 6-3 lead. Odrisamer Despaigne (2-0) tossed two hitless innings to earn the win. Brad Ziegler finished for his first save.
Garcia hit Rojas with a fastball in the back to start the eighth. Starlin Castro walked and Morgan entered to strike out Justin Bour. After the runners advanced on Andrew Knapp’s passed ball, Anderson lined a double to right-center to give Miami a 5-3 lead.
”He’s showing us he’s making adjustments,” Marlins manager Don Mattingly said of Anderson. ”They stayed away from him and it was a nice job of hitting.”
Bryan Holaday, the catcher who tossed a perfect inning in Miami’s 20-1 loss Saturday night, added an RBI single.
The Marlins (3-6) snapped a four-game losing streak and avoided a three-game sweep in Philadelphia (3-5).
Rojas lined his first homer on Arrieta’s 10th pitch. After Castro walked, Bour followed with an infield single that could have been an inning-ending double play except for a shift. Arrieta got the second out and had a 2-2 count on Lewis Brinson before Knapp committed catcher’s interference to load the bases.
Braxton Lee then looped a 0-2 pitch down the left-field line for a two-run single to make it 3-0.
”It is frustrating but numbers show shifts work out,” Arrieta said about the ball Bour hit to the left side of second base.
Cesar Hernandez ripped a double leading off Philadelphia’s first, advanced on a wild pitch and scored on Carlos Santana’s sacrifice fly. Odubel Herrera lined a double, advanced on another wild pitch and scored on Nick Williams’ single to cut it to 3-2.
Herrera started the bottom of the third with an infield single and scored the tying run on a double by Rhys Hoskins.
STARTING TIME
Miami’s Trevor Richards allowed three runs and six hits in four innings.
”He didn’t have his best stuff but he hung in there and battled,” Mattingly said.
ROSTER MOVE
The Marlins called up right-hander Tyler Cloyd from Triple-A New Orleans and designated righty Jacob Turner for assignment. Turner allowed eight runs in one relief inning on Saturday.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Marlins: OF Cameron Maybin wasn’t in the lineup because of tightness in his neck but entered as a pinch hitter in the eighth.
UP NEXT:
Marlins: RHP Jose Urena (0-1, 4.91 ERA) takes the mound in the opener of a three-game home series against the New York Mets. Urena is 3-3 with a 3.37 ERA in 10 career appearances against New York.
Phillies: RHP Ben Lively (0-1, 3.18 ERA) starts the opener of a three-game series vs. Cincinnati. It’ll be his first game against the Reds.
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