Phillies fumble through 6-1 loss to Marlins

Luis Garcia flinched just enough for the umpire to rule that the Phillies reliever had balked. Miami's Adeiny Hechavarria trotted home and the Marlins recaptured the lead.

Garcia's miscue in the seventh inning of a loss at Citizens Bank Park on Wednesday night marked the first run the reliable righthander had surrendered in 14 innings since September. It also came to mark the first of five straight runs the Marlins tacked on after Phillies mistakes over the seventh and eighth innings.

An unsightly defensive inning in the eighth behind righthander Ken Giles cemented the Phillies' fate. Chase Utley's fielding error loaded the bases instead of ending the frame. A dropped fly ball by centerfielder Odubel Herrera cleared the bases.

All the while, the Phillies offense reverted to the form it showed for most of the season's first two weeks. The hitters wasted another solid effort from Cole Hamels, who has received a mere three runs of support over his first 24 innings of the year.

"We didn't do too much right tonight," Phillies manager Ryne Sandberg said.

Hamels remains in search of his first win of the season. The Phillies ace pitched well Wednesday but lasted only six innings because of a 29-pitch third frame. He exhausted 106 pitches while facing 25 batters.

"Hamels really hung in there," Sandberg said. "His stuff is really good with his velocity. . . . Some prolonged at-bats had something to do with the pitch count. But you know what? He battled through it and hung in there with just the one run. [He] gave us a chance to win."

The 31-year-old lefthander allowed one run - it was unearned because of the pitcher's costly second-inning fielding error - on five hits. He walked three, but for the first time this season he did not allow a home run. Hamels came into the night having already allowed a major-league-worst seven homers.

"I think a lot of times, we're the type of team that really does play really well defensively," Hamels said. "We make those plays that we're supposed to make. The one I missed, that was all on me. Chase gave me a great throw and I wasn't able to catch it. But hopefully with all of that, hopefully we got them all out of the way."

Marlins starter Jarred Cosart, four years ago a touted Phillies pitching prospect, allowed just one run over six innings in his first start against the organization that drafted him. The 24-year-old righthander allowed four hits, struck out four, and did not issue a walk. He retired 14 consecutive Phillies between Cody Asche's second-inning home run and Ben Revere's sixth-inning triple.

Garcia took over for Hamels to start the seventh. Hechavarria, the Marlins shortstop, singled to lead off the inning and stole second. He advanced to third on a Dee Gordon infield single before scoring on Garcia's balk, which came with one out and the pitcher ahead of Martin Prado, no balls and two strikes.

The Marlins, who snapped a five-game losing streak, took advantage of the Phillies errors and broke open the game with their four-run eighth. Three runs scored on Herrera's drop of Gordon's fly to deep center. Against the Phillies, who managed just five hits and committed three fielding errors, they proved more than enough.

@jakemkaplan