Ranger Suarez strikes out 9 as Phillies blank Marlins

Ranger Suarez struck out nine in seven scoreless innings, and Nick Castellanos homered in front of his hometown fans as the Philadelphia Phillies defeated the host Miami Marlins 8-2 on Friday night.

Castellanos is from Davie, Fla., 24 miles from the Marlins' stadium. Phillies center fielder and nine-hole hitter Johan Rojas also homered, going 3-for-5 with two RBIs.

Suarez (7-0) continued his impressive start, lowering his ERA to 1.50. He allowed three hits and two walks as the Phillies won for the 12th time in 14 games.

The Phillies (27-12) have the best record in the National League.

Miami (10-30) has one of the worst records in the majors, and it trails the Phillies by 17.5 games in the National League East.

Trevor Rogers (0-6) took the loss as the Marlins fell to 0-8 when he starts this season. He is also 1-6 in 10 career starts against Philadelphia.

Rogers, 5-19 since the start of 2022, allowed nine hits, two walks and five runs, four earned, in 3 1/3 innings.

The Phillies opened the scoring with two runs in the second. Castellanos homered on the first pitch of the inning, driving a changeup 400 feet to the opposite field. He hit a pitch that was low and outside, smacking the ball to right-center.

With one out in the same frame, Edmundo Sosa doubled. One out later, Sosa scored on Rojas' single to center.

The Phillies extended their lead to 5-0 in the fourth on a rally that started with a fielding error by Marlins third baseman Jake Burger. After Sosa drew a walk, Christian Pache stroked an opposite-field RBI double to right-center. One out later, Kyle Schwarber delivered a two-run single.

Philadelphia made it 6-0 in the fifth with another unearned run. Whit Merrifield drew a leadoff walk and scored when Rojas' chopper deflected off Burger's glove for an error.

The Phillies cruised from there although Miami's Josh Bell hit a two-run double in the eighth to cut its deficit to 8-2.