Cabrera delivers another strong effort, Marlins bats bail out Faucher for extra-inning win

[Louis Addeo-Weiss]

Entering the bottom of the ninth with a 4-2 lead Wednesday night at Oracle Park, Calvin Faucher quickly lost his month-long scoreless streak and suffered a blown save. He was fortunate to avoid an even worse outcome.

Faucher started his outing with a hit-by-pitch, another hit-by-pitch and a walk. Willy Adames plated the third Giants run on a sacrifice fly that missed being a walk-off grand slam by no more than ten feet. Patrick Bailey, the defensive stalwart behind the plate with a career 76 OPS+, followed that up by lacing a single into left field to score the tying run. Jung Hoo Lee, the potential winning run, would be gunned down at the plate by left fielder Kyle Stowers.

A 98 mph line drive off the bat of Christian Koss found Connor Norby's glove, sending the game into extra innings.

Deflating as it must've been for the Marlins to squander what had been a commendable pitching effort prior to Faucher's appearance, they responded by putting up a four-spot in the top of the 10th. Otto Lopez and Heriberto Hernandez, who delivered clutch, run-scoring hits earlier in the ballgame, xeroxed that with an RBI single and double, respectively. Over his last six games, Lopez has hit .458, raising his season average from .230 to .253.

 

Tyler Phillips shut the door from there to secure an 8-5 victory, the Marlins' fifth straight road win.

Rewinding, though, it would be doing a disservice to gloss over the work done by Edward Cabrera. 

After several seasons of middling results, the 27-year-old has elevated his performance in 2025. Minus a first-inning, leadoff home run off the bat of Mike Yastrzemski and a trio of walks, Cabrera continued a run of excellent pitching that's now seen him allow three or fewer runs in nine consecutive starts. His stuff was particularly sharp against the Giants as he fired 5 ⅓ innings of two-run ball, lowering his season ERA to 3.78 in the process.

Cabrera delivered first-pitch strikes to 68 percent of batters faced. Since the start of play on May 4, his 2.36 ERA ranks just below Tarik Skubal (2.35) for 18th-best among 106 pitchers to throw at least 40 innings in that span. 

Opposite Cabrera was Giants ace Logan Webb. Utilizing a sinker-changeup combination that has seen him become one of the sport's best arms for nearly half a decade now, he held the Marlins to two runs over six innings. In his 17 starts this season, Webb has completed six more innings in 13 of them, allowing no more than three runs in each of those starts. Only Paul Skenes (2.12) has a lower ERA among NL pitchers to throw at least 80 innings thus far this season.

The only real bit of damage against Webb came when Otto Lopez hit a go-ahead, two-run double in the fourth. 

Facing Tyler Rogers, who had gone more than three years without allowing an earned run against Miami, Heriberto Hernandez continued to make his case for more playing time. In the top of the eighth, the rookie outfielder laced a go-ahead two-run single just out of the reach of the shortstop Adames.

Through 17 major league games, Hernandez sports a .340/.377/.480 slash line. He's been nearly as productive against righties (.819 OPS) as lefties (.887 OPS).

Now 33-45 and winners of three straight, the Marlins hold a 1.5-game lead over the Nationals for fourth place in the NL East. They've won consecutive series for the first time this season and eight of the last 12 games overall. 

 

Looking Ahead

The Marlins will wrap up their series by the Bay on Thursday when they send Janson Junk (2-0, 2.60 ERA) to the mound to make his second start of the season. In his first start back on June 20, Junk held Atlanta to one run over five innings pitched. Hayden Birdsong (3-1, 3.25 ERA) will make his second appearance against Miami, having previously tossed 5 ⅓ innings of one-run ball on June 1.

First pitch from Oracle Park is slated for 3:45 EST.

 

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[1993 fan from start]

too many people try to strach a double into a triple was bad. with a good pitcher on the mond.

 

[THOMAS JOSEPH]

Cabrera's Alcántara-esque reaction to McCollough's mound visit was a classic. Here's to the long-awaited fire and self-confidence!