The All-Star break is here and gone already and the second half of the baseball season is underway. The Philadelphia Phillies entered the second half of the year without 30 wins (29-62 before start of game), while the Miami Marlins got bad news where Dee Gordon was placed on the DL.

The Phillies sent their young gun, 25-year old Adam Morgan, to the mound at Citizens Bank Park on Friday night in the hopes of seeing some better pitching performances out of him.

The Marlins gave the ball to their ace Jose Fernandez, who has been stellar this season after recently coming off of Tommy John surgery. 

Both pitchers started off well, Fernandez only allowing one hit through the first five innings and consistently hitting 99 MPH and topping 100 MPH a few times in the game, while Morgan only allowed three hits through the first five innings but did give up a run in the fourth. The run came from a Justin Bour RBI single, which drove in Adeiny Hechavarria.

Going into the bottom of the sixth the Marlins were up 1-0, but the Phillies first rally of the night turned that around. Adam Morgan led off the inning and drove a ball into the gap and got to second base standing. Ben Revere came up in the next at-bat and laid a bunt down the third base line to advance Morgan to third while Revere was able to get to first after a Casey McGehee mishap while going for the ball. Cesar Hernandez came up next and grounded the ball back to the pitcher, but was safe after an error by Bour at first and Revere got to second. Maikel Franco came up next and grounded into a double play, but still got an RBI off of it as Morgan was able to come home, Revere advanced to third, and the Phillies and Marlins were tied at one. Ryan Howard stepped up to the dish next and hit a ball away from the shift into left center and drove in Revere to give the Phillies a 2-1 lead.

It didn't take long for the Marlins to answer. Morgan was pulled in the top of the seventh after one out. His final line was 6.1 innings pitched allowing two runs on four hits, while walking three and striking out three. Morgan put in a strong performance and his season ERA dropped to 3.91. The Marlins put a run of their own on the board as Cole Gillespie hit an RBI double, bringing J.T. Realmuto to tie the game at two.

After six innings, the Marlins pulled Fernandez so they wouldn't overwork him too soon after rehabbing him. His final stat line was six innings pitched allowing two runs on four hits, while walking only one and striking out six. Fernandez put together a dominant performance as he was ligthing up the radar gun all night.

The Phillies needed more late game heroics, this time coming in the bottom of the eighth instead of the ninth. The Phillies had Herrera and Hernandez on second and first, respectively, and Franco came up to the plate again. Franco drilled a ball into center field but right to Gillespie. However, Gillespie misplayed the ball and it hit off the edge of his glove and fell to the field. Herrera scored on the play, Hernandez went to third, and Franco got to second. With two outs in the bottom of the eighth and the Phillies being up 3-2, Jeff Francouer came up to pinch hit for Cody Asche and did excatly was he was called up to do. Francouer took a pitch from Carter Capps to deep left field and sent it over the left field wall and gave the Phillies a 6-2 lead.

The Marlins were able to get a run off of Jonathan Papelbon, who was met by a roar of boos from the Philly faithful, in the ninth from a Realmuto home run to left field and made the score 6-3; but the Phillies were still able to walk away with a win, their 30th of the season and the last team to accomplish that in the majors. 

The Phillies moved to 30-62 on the season while the Marlins are now 38-52 on the season. Ken Giles was credited for the win, moving to 4-2 on the year, while Bryan Morris was dealt the loss and dropped to 3-2 on the season.