'Electric' rookie Bellozo shuts down Phillies over seven scoreless innings

PHILADELPHIA -- Jake Burger extended one of the best power surges in club history on Tuesday night, but it was rookie pitcher Valente Bellozo who stole the show.

In only his fifth career start, Bellozo allowed just four hits over seven scoreless innings in the Marlins' 5-0 victory over the Phillies at Citizens Bank Park. Making Bellozo’s outing even more impressive is the fact that Philadelphia entered the night having been shut out just three times this season, tied for the fewest in MLB. This also marked the first time the Phillies were held scoreless in their home ballpark in exactly one year.

"It's really awesome," said Bellozo, who was quick to deflect credit to the defense behind him and catcher Ali Sánchez. "They're a playoff team -- maybe the World Series winner. ... A lot of All-Star players, so it was really cool having fun out there and having a good outing."

The soft-throwing Bellozo stifled one of the best lineups in baseball while leaning heavily on a four-seam fastball that averaged 89.5 mph and topped out at 92.

What Bellozo lacked in velocity, he more than made up for by keeping hitters guessing all night. In a formula rarely seen in today's game, Bellozo recorded 15 of his 21 outs in the air -- and only two on the ground. The other four came via strikeouts.

“Being a fly ball pitcher in a park like this is dangerous,” manager Skip Schumaker said. “You’re waiting for him to maybe get a little tired or something, but he just kept going and kept missing barrels. I think he missed enough of the barrels where guys were just missing the ball, and you could see them getting a little frustrated.”

Bellozo, who retired 10 of the final 11 batters he faced, let out a series of yells and pumped his fist repeatedly as he strolled back to the dugout in front of a mostly silenced crowd of 42,846.

“They told me before the game, ‘Hey, it’s going to be crazy, all the people are going to be on you,’” Bellozo said. “It’s really cool. I think it’s really nice. It’s part of the job; it’s part of baseball."

Unfazed by the Philadelphia faithful, Bellozo became just the fourth pitcher in Marlins history to throw at least seven scoreless innings on the road within his first five career games, joining Jordan Yamamoto (June 18, 2019), Justin Nicolino (June 20, 2015) and Dontrelle Willis (May 25, 2003).

Bellozo had pitched seven innings only one other time in his professional career (May 16 with Double-A Pensacola). He did not complete even six innings, let alone seven, in any of his previous four big league outings.

Though he didn't need much run support, Bellozo was staked to a 2-0 lead before throwing his first pitch thanks to RBI singles by Jonah Bride and Otto Lopez in the top of the first. Two innings later, Burger extended his home run streak to four straight games with a towering solo homer, his sixth in the past six games.

Burger is just the fifth Marlins player to hit six homers in a six-game span, and the first since Giancarlo Stanton did it during a six-game homer streak in 2017. The only others to do so are Dan Uggla (2010), Jorge Cantu (2008) and Cliff Floyd (2001).

It's not just the past week, though -- it's the past month. Going back exactly one month to July 13, no player has hit more home runs than Burger’s 14.

Safe to say this is the best stretch of Burger's career?

"Yeah, I think so," Burger said. "There's definitely moments last year -- playing in Chicago -- where I had like a seven-day stretch where I felt really good, but never this consistent."

But even Burger knows this night was all about Bellozo.

"He's just electric," Burger said. "His energy is unbelievable. He gets the boys fired up and he works fast. He's got all the confidence in the world -- and that's what you want in a starting pitcher."

Bellozo’s team-first mindset was apparent postgame when he repeatedly heaped praise on his catcher and the defense behind him, including a sensational diving catch by Vidal Bruján.

But perhaps the bigger sign came when he stayed in the dugout to watch the final two innings as opposed to heading to the clubhouse for treatment as starters typically do after exiting.

"I would have [stayed], too, if I just threw seven shutout innings against the Phillies,” Schumaker joked.