Paredes' walk-off sinks Marlins in extras, hurts WC hopes

PHILADELPHIA -- Arguably the most powerful active Major Leaguer returned to the Marlins' starting lineup on Friday night to help propel them in the race for the National League Wild Card. But Giancarlo Stanton's first start in more than a month was overshadowed by the 13th-inning heroics by the Phillies to sink the Marlins, 4-3, and drop them five games back of the Mets, who defeated the Twins.
The Phillies got the winning run 90 feet away in two straight innings, but it took loading the bases and the Marlins going with a five-man infield for them to prevail. Peter Bourjos, who led off the 13th with a single after entering the game in the 12th, nearly scored on Odúbel Herrera's single into center field but was held up at third.
"I was going as hard as I could," Bourjos said, when asked if he thought he would score on the play.
Bourjos eventually came home on Jimmy Paredes' pinch-hit, walk-off single over the outstretched glove of Dee Strange-Gordon. Teammates chased Paredes into the outfield, ripping off his jersey.
"I'll take it," said Paredes, who will keep the torn jersey as is. "I'll put it back in my home."

Stanton played through the top half of the sixth inning and came to the plate four times, walking twice, scoring a run and grounding into a double play. In his final at-bat, Stanton could not extend the Marlins' lead at the time, striking out with runners on second and third with one out. Miami left 15 men on base and went 2-for-13 with runners in scoring position.
• Stanton returns to starting lineup
Ryan Howard delivered the Phillies their first run of the night on a Statcast-projected 407-foot moonshot that left the bat at a 37-degree angle and nearly landed in the visitors' bullpen. Cameron Rupp followed with a double, forcing Marlins starter Tom Koehler from the game, and scored on another two-bagger from the next batter, Herrera.
"Every loss is painful because you know where you're at," Marlins manager Don Mattingly said. "It hurts you. It hurts if you have a team that cares and you're playing for stuff."
Added Koehler, who went five-plus innings and allowed two runs: "Every loss is major at this point. As long as there's not a little 'E' next to us in the standings, we're going to come out and fight."

MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
Collision sparks inning: Had Phillies starter Adam Morgan not attempted to cover first on a ball hit by Gordon in the fifth inning, the Marlins may not have scored. Had Mattingly not argued for obstruction after Morgan knocked Gordon to the ground on the out play, the Marlins may not have scored. Instead, Gordon was awarded first -- Morgan charged with an interference error -- stole second, then scored on a Martín Prado double for the game's first run in a two-run inning.
"The pitcher knocked him off track," Mattingly said. "You can't just go tackle a guy, basically. I know he didn't mean to, but if that's allowed, then our pitchers should be doing that a lot, you know? It was a different play. I've never seen it before, but I think it's going to be a bang-bang. You can't assume he's going to be out there." More >

Howard ties Tony, Orlando: Howard hit a towering solo home run to right-center field in the sixth to cut Miami's lead to 2-1. It marked the 379th homer of Howard's career, moving him into a tie for 70th place on the all-time home run list with Hall of Famers Tony Perez and Orlando Cepeda. Howard needs two more homers to tie Albert Belle for 69th on the all-time list. Howard has an .889 OPS in 112 plate appearances since the All-Star break.
"He might lead our team in home runs," Phillies manager Pete Mackanin said. "It's great to see him respond like that. Hopefully that'll continue for the next 14 games or whatever we have left. It's good to see him do that, and it's good for the fans to see him do that, too."

Dietrich ties it:Edubray Ramos hung a curveball in Derek Dietrich's sweet spot, and he slugged it over the right-field fence for his first career pinch-hit home run to tie the game in the eighth and eventually force extra innings. Although Dietrich had never left the yard while pinch-hitting, he had prior success when getting called off the bench. The homer improved Dietrich to 5-for-16 as a pinch-hitter this season.
Phillies' bullpen shuffle: The Phillies had to adjust their bullpen responsibilities on Friday with closer Jeanmar Gómez unavailable after pitching three of the previous four nights. That moved Ramos into the eighth inning with setup man Héctor Neris slated to pitch the ninth, if the one-run lead held. It did not. But Ramos pitched a scoreless ninth and Joely Rodríguez, Luis García and Frank Herrmann followed with four more scoreless innings. Herrmann won his first game since 2011.
"It's fun," Herrmann said. "We've got a young team, so it's fun when we can get these wins when we can. So to contribute means a lot to me." More >

QUOTABLE
"You just can't, and I talked about it in Miami. Every one is painful from the standpoint of you know where you're at, and you have to think about winning absolutely every game. Every one is tough. It hurts, you know, and that's just the way it is this time of year. If you have a team that cares and is trying to obviously fight for stuff, which I know we are, these kind of rip your heart out a little bit, but you've got to bounce back and keep playing because you still never know." -- Mattingly, on how the team would take the tough loss
"They had guys running all over the infield. He's not going to hit into a double play, at least in my estimation. So if he just hits the ball on the ground somewhere, good things were going to happen." -- Mackanin, on why he took off the bunt for Roman Quinn on a 2-0 count in the 12th with runners on first and second and no outs
SOUND SMART WITH YOUR FRIENDS
The game lasted four hours and 43 minutes, and the clubs used a combined 45 players (24 Marlins, 21 Phillies). They were the most players used in a Phillies game since Sept. 28, 2011, at Atlanta (Phillies 25, Braves 20).
WHAT'S NEXT
Marlins:José Ureña makes his first start since tossing a career-high 8 2/3 shutout innings against the Dodgers last Sunday. Urena went 5 2/3 frames of one-run ball against the Phillies in May in his first start this season. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 p.m. ET on Saturday.
Phillies: Right-hander Jeremy Hellickson (11-9, 3.76 ERA) faces the Marlins in the second of a three-game series at Citizens Bank Park. The Marlins pursued Hellickson before the Aug. 1 non-waiver Trade Deadline but never struck a deal. He is 2-1 with a 2.59 ERA in five starts this season against Miami.
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