Sosa, Segura, Falter power Phillies past Marlins 4-3
Edmundo Sosa breaks his bat on an infield single in the bottom of the fifth inning against the Miami Marlins at Citizens Bank Park. (Photo by Mitchell Leff/Getty Images) ((Photo by Mitchell Leff/Getty Images))
PHILADELPHIA - Edmundo Sosa homered for the second straight game and finished with three hits and three RBIs, and Bailey Falter earned his fourth straight win as a starter, lifting the Philadelphia Phillies to a 4-3 win over the Miami Marlins on Wednesday night.
Jean Segura also homered for the Phillies, who moved four games ahead of Milwaukee and a half-game ahead of San Diego in the race for the final two NL wild-card spots. The Padres face Arizona later Wednesday. The Phillies hold a tiebreaker over the Brewers based on a 4-3 season series record, a factor in this first year without a regular-season tiebreaker game to determine playoff spots.
The Phillies haven't made the playoffs since 2011, the longest drought in the National League and the second-longest in the MLB behind Seattle's 21 seasons.
Jacob Stallings had two hits, including a solo homer in the ninth off reliever Connor Brogdon that pulled Miami within a run. Brogdon allowed the tying run on base before closing out his second save of the season.
Charles Leblanc and Garrett Cooper each had two hits for Miami, which has lost nine in a row for the first time since May 2013.
The 26-yeaer-old Sosa, acquired in a July 30 trade with St. Louis for minor league reliever JoJo Romero to bolster Philadelphia's infield depth- was 3 for 3. He knocked in two runs on a homer to left field in the third inning off Marlins starter Trevor Rogers. He added another RBI in the seventh on a ball that ricocheted off reliever Huascar Brazoban's glove and into short right field for a double, scoring Matt Vierling with an insurance run.
The 25-year-old Falter, who spent most of the year bouncing between Philadelphia and Triple-A affiliate Lehigh Valley, has been a surprising addition to a starting rotation that has suffered since Zack Wheeler went on the injured list due to right forearm tendinitis.
Falter (4-3) allowed two earned runs in 5 1/3 innings while mixing a four-seam fastball and a heavy sinker and forcing weak contact from the Marlins. All seven of Miami's hits off Falter were singles.
In his last four starts dating to Aug. 20, Falter has thrown 23 2/3 innings, allowed 19 hits, seven earned runs (2.66 ERA), walked two and struck out 18. Philadelphia is 4-0 in those starts and 5-7 in every other game in that stretch.
Segura added his ninth homer of the season with a solo shot in the fourth inning that curled just inside the foul pole in left field. Vierling went 2 for 3.
TRAINERS ROOM
Phillies: The progression of SirAnthony Dominguez and Zach Eflin from their injuries continued with the Phils sounding like a rehab assignment could be on tap next week. Both right-handers threw simulated games on Tuesday and felt good afterward, interim manager Rob Thomson said. Eflin, who has been a starter, has been on the injured list since June 28 with a knee bruise in his surgically repaired right knee. Dominguez went on the injured list with right triceps tendinitis Aug. 21, leaving a hole in the back of the Philadelphia bullpen.
ON DECK
The final game of the three-game series takes place on Thursday with Miami sending Cy Young contender Sandy Alcantara (12-7, 2.38) to the mound against Phillies RHP Kyle Gibson (9-6, 4.48).