PHILADELPHIA (AP) - The slumping Miami Marlins say it will take a team effort to pull out of this slide.
Chase Utley extended his hot start with the tiebreaking homer among three hits, sparking the Philadelphia Phillies to a 4-3 victory over the Marlins on Sunday for a three-game sweep.
It was the seventh straight defeat for Miami, including all six games on a road trip through Washington and Philadelphia. The Marlins will look to snap the skid at home on Monday against the Nationals.
“Everyone has to take ownership for this trip,” Miami manager Mike Redmond said. “We’ve got to get better. There are areas we have to improve on, but we’re still battling. Nobody’s going to give up.”
Utley broke a 3-all tie with two outs in the eighth by driving a 1-0 offering from Mike Dunn (0-1) into the seats in right-center.
“It was a slider that I left over the plate a little,” Dunn said. “I wanted to hit the corner and he was sitting on the slider. He’s a professional hitter who’s been in the game for a long time.
“We’ve got to pull together as a team, get out of this and get going in the right direction.”
It was the second straight game in which a late-inning homer did in the Marlins, following Saturday’s 5-4 loss to the Phillies in which Jimmy Rollins hit a two-out, walkoff homer in the 10th.
“That’s three games now on this trip that we gave up late-inning big hits,” Redmond said.
Garrett Jones homered and Casey McGehee had two hits and an RBI for the Marlins.
A.J. Bastardo (1-1) pitched a scoreless eighth for the win.
Jonathan Papelbon pitched a scoreless ninth for his third save in four chances.
Kyle Kendrick owns a sparkling career record against the Marlins, going 12-2 with a 3.48 ERA in 21 career games coming in. In his last 11, he was 9-0 with a 2.21 ERA. But he did not factor into the decision Sunday after giving up three runs - two earned - on six hits in six innings.
His counterpart, Henderson Alvarez, also didn’t get a decision after yielding three runs and 12 hits in six innings.
“Alvarez struggled a little but was able to get out of jams,” Redmond said.
The Marlins took advantage of first baseman Ryan Howard’s fielding error to get a run in the first on McGehee’s RBI single and tacked on run on in the second on Christian Yelich’s run-scoring single.
Jones launched his first homer of the season to deep right with one out in the fifth to give Miami a 3-1 lead.
But the Phillies tied it in the bottom half on Will Nieves’ two-out, two-run double to right.
NOTES: Philadelphia Hall of Fame third baseman Mike Schmidt debuted in the Phillies broadcast booth during the game. Schmidt will serve as a color analyst on Sunday home games this season. … Prior to the game, the Phillies optioned RHP Justin De Fratus to Triple-A Lehigh Valley and recalled RHP Luis Garcia. De Fratus allowed four runs in five innings (7.20 ERA) over four games this season. … Phillies RHP Roberto Hernandez (1-0, 4.35) opposes Atlanta RHP Ervin Santana (1-0, 0.00) when the teams open a four-game series in Philadelphia at 7:05 Monday night. … The Marlins return home for a three-game set against Washington, beginning on Monday when Nationals RHP Jordan Zimmerman (0-0, 8.10) faces LHP Brad Hand (0-0, 3.24). … Philadelphia 3B Cody Asche went 0 for 2 and is hitless in 10 at-bats.
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