Player of the gameJustin WrobleskiLAD2.0ip 2h 0er 1k
Even Major Leaguers experience moments of doubt. When Marlins right-hander Tyler Phillips surrendered back-to-back two-out homers to Mookie Betts and Max Muncy in the first inning of Saturday’s 4-3 win over the Dodgers at loanDepot park, he began to nibble the zone. Phillips was pitching timidly -- reasonable considering the two-time reigning World Series champions were standing in the box -- but that’s no way to survive in The Show. After pitching coach Daniel Moskos visited Phillips on the mound in the second, Phillips pulled him into the tunnel for another talk. He admitted to feeling some anxiety after being hit hard in the opening frame; he wanted to scream and let out that negative energy. “He goes, ‘Go scream!’ I told him, ‘I can't, man. My voice is going to crack,’” Phillips recalled. “I was like, ‘This is going to be embarrassing.’ And he balled up a towel. He handed it to me. He said, ‘Put the towel in your mouth and scream.’ So I went around the corner and just let it out. And then I got back into my positive self-talk.” It worked, as Phillips didn’t allow another hit to help Miami snap a four-game skid. But not without some armchair fodder. Manager Clayton McCullough pulled Phillips with two outs and a runner on first in the fourth with the righty at just 68 pitches. Lefty Cade Gibson induced an inning-ending groundout, then retired the Dodgers in order in the fifth.
