Burger, Bride hit bombs behind Muñoz's solid start

[Alex Krutchik]

The Marlins finally took a game in the Citrus Series, homering twice off of one of baseball's hottest pitchers, Taj Bradley.

St. Petersburg, FL—On Tuesday night, with a roster depleted from trade deadline send-offs, the Marlins had a player hit his first home run of the season, followed by Jake Burger laying it on with a homer of his own.

Wednesday afternoon’s victory over the Tampa Bay Rays mirrored the script from last night in that regard. 

This time, it was Jonah Bride hitting a solo home run in the second inning to open the scoring for Miami, starting his first major league game in the cleanup spot. Then, once again, Burger added to his July home run total with a two-run moonshot to left center field in the third inning. Both went deep against outstanding young right-hander Taj Bradley, who hadn't allowed any runs in his previous three starts.

Burger's home run was preceded immediately with a sac fly from Xavier Edwards to score Vidal Bruján from third base to tie the game at 2-2.

Thanks to Marlins starting pitcher Roddery Muñoz and the Miami bullpen, those four total runs is all they needed.

Muñoz allowed a solo home run to Christopher Morel in the first inning and an RBI triple to Dylan Carlson in the second. He gave up four hits, walked two, and struck out seven in five innings.

Wednesday was Muñoz’s 12th start this year, trailing only the recently traded Trevor Rogers and injured Ryan Weathers in that department. Including his minor league appearances, the 24-year-old righty has totaled 107 innings with the Marlins organization, which is a single-season career high.

“The confidence I have received from my manager and coaching staff have been really helpful,” Munoz said through translator Luis Dorante Jr. “I had good days and bad days. But I always try to go out there, compete, give it everything I got. So it’s very special to accomplish.”

Xavier Edwards delivered more insurance in the seventh inning on a two-run single. Edwards had three RBI on Wednesday and finished with a .395 batting average in July, the sixth-highest monthly average in Marlins history for batters with at least 75 at-bats.

Andrew Nardi, Jesús Tinoco, Anthony Bender, and Calvin Faucher combined for four scoreless innings to seal the win.

Newly acquired outfielder Kyle Stowers, fresh off the plane from Charlotte where the Baltimore Orioles’ Triple-A affiliate was playing, began his Marlins career 0-for-4 with four strikeouts.

“Hectic 24 hours," Stowers said. "But, you know, not an excuse. I actually started feeling better as the game went on. Felt like I took some good swings, just didn’t go my way today. You play 160 games in a season—days like this are gonna happen. Obviously, it’s unfortunate it happens on the first day here. But I think I’m built to respond.”

On Thursday, the Marlins begin the final leg of their three-series road trip in Atlanta.

 

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[THOMAS JOSEPH]

Perfectly acceptable performance from Munoz. Great to see Bride getting some knocks. To focus on some other positives - fresh faces on the active roster, who are trying to make a name for themselves in MLB, ramp up the hustle and excitement. Not sweating the rough first game from Sowers at all.