Zach Eflin lasted only four innings in his first start against the Marlins earlier this season. He stuck around longer, much longer this time around.

Eflin, who now holds a 3-3 record with a 3.34 ERA and 1.20 WHIP in six starts, went the distance in a 5-1 Phillies’ win over the Marlins on Sunday afternoon at Citizens Bank Park. It was Eflin’s third career complete game and the Phillies’ first nine-inning one since Jeremy Hellickson accomplished the feat back in September 2016. His performance was worthy of a post-game Powerade dump.

I think that’s Powerade? Right?

Anyway, after needing 81 pitches to complete those aforementioned four ugly innings against the Marlins back on April 13, a start in which he allowed 10 hits and six earned runs, Eflin didn’t throw his 81st pitch until the seventh inning today. He cruised through the Miami lineup, allowing only seven hits and one earned run. After the game, Eflin largely attributed his success to the increased usage of his two-seam fastball.

Gabe Kapler, for his part, had no doubts about sending Eflin back out to finish the job after the eighth inning.

“I certainly didn’t feel like I wanted to make a phone call to the bullpen,” said Kapler. “We knew that we had Pat [Neshek] behind him in case he got into a little bit of trouble, but he never gave us any indication that he would.”

There were times last season when Phillies starters probably could have gotten to the finish line, but Kapler was reluctant to let them get there. Keep in mind that not even Aaron Nola, who finished third in NL Cy Young voting, went a full nine innings. In fact, Nola had three starts a season ago in which he completed eight innings with 105 pitches or less, but never pitched a complete game.

Kapler talked after the game about why it seems like he has more leniency with his starters this season.

“I feel like I know our starters now better than I did, obviously better than I did at this time last year, but I also think it’s an earned thing. So, if you’re efficient, you’re in the zone, your ball has life, the pitches look like they did in the first or the second inning, sure, I’m going to be much more liberal about allowing them to go out and continue.”

Cesar’s Struggles

Eflin probably would have had a shutout had it not been for this misplay by Cesar Hernandez in the fourth inning:

That is the shortstop’s ball all day.

Hernandez, who also misjudged a third-inning pop-up that led to a hit, has struggled defensively this season. Entering Sunday, his .962 fielding percentage was the third-worst in baseball of any second baseman with at least 20 games played. Despite his defensive issues, Kapler expressed confidence in Hernandez after the game.

“Just like hitters tend to go through slumps, they go through 7, 8, 15 days where they’re just not seeing the ball that well, they don’t have a rhythm at the plate,” explained Kapler. “He doesn’t have his rhythm on defense, and he’s struggling through a tough time. It’s unfortunate, but we’re going to stick with him. He’s been a good defender in the past. Just like he was earlier in the season [offensively], he was good offensive player in the past. We knew that was going to come around, it did. His defense will come around as well.”

You may not want to hear that, Phillies fan, but Kapler’s patience with Hernandez has paid off at the plate. Hernandez has 23 hits in his last 72 ABs (.319 BA) and has raised his average from .152 all the way up to .267. So, there’s that.

Segura Paces Offense

After missing 10 games earlier this month with a left hamstring injury, Jean Segura returned to a rude welcome in his second at-bat yesterday afternoon:

That’s a 90 mph fastball. Off the helmet.

No matter.

After passing concussion protocol after the game, Segura wasn’t just back in the lineup for the Phillies this afternoon against the Marlins, he was in the middle of everything.

After a first inning lineout to deep left, Segura collected three of the Phillies’ four total hits, including an RBI triple in the third inning that gave his team a 2-0 lead. Segura now has 23 three-hit games since the start of the 2018 season, more than any Major League hitter in that time frame. In 72 ABs this season, Segura is hitting .347 with a .405 on-base percentage.

His style seemed to rub off on the rest of the team in this one. After relying on the long ball in their previous two wins over Miami, the Phillies’ offense mirrored Segura’s scrappy approach, piecing together five runs on only four hits, none of which were home runs. Or, I’m stretching for a narrative. Hard to say.

Either way, Segura has been critical to this offense. The Phils are scoring 6.44 runs per game when he’s in the lineup and only 2.9 runs per game when he’s not.