Squandered opportunities, big sixth culminate in blowout loss.

[Nate Karzmer]

The 2026 edition of the Marlins' annual trip to Denver can best be described as a tale of two halves.

Monday and Tuesday's opening bouts were a continuation of near-flawless baseball from the visitors, as evidenced by a combined 24-run effort and+14 differential over a lowly Rockies team. The latter two contests, though, presented a night-and-day difference.

A disastrous 1-13 combined mark with runners in scoring position in both efforts proved insurmountable to overcome in the notorious hitter-friendly confines of Coors Field. In Thursday's finale alone, Miami was 0-for-8 en route to a 12-4 waxing, marking their first pair of consecutive losses since June 15th and 16th in Philadelphia. Clayton McCullough's group falls back to four games over .500, but ends 2026 with a 5-2 mark over their 1993 expansion mates, a step up from a 3-3 split a year ago.

Miami didn't go down without its chances, as a particularly ineffective Michael Lorenzen presented numerous occasions for a lineup with its best bats to strike.

Although a pair of force outs and a sacrifice fly in two separate bases-loaded situations pushed three early runs across, the "big hit" that seemed to show up aplenty throughout their magical June never did. Pedro Guerrero's unit threw up four early runs across the first four frames, but were shutout by a trio of Colorado relievers the rest of the way.

A short list of offensive standouts features Otto Lopez , who ended up tallying three legs of the cycle, missing the long ball just like Javier Sanoja in the series opener. For Lopez, it was his ninth three-hit performance of the year. As for Sanoja, he collected two more knocks to wrap up a stellar set in which he raised his season OPS to .741.

While the veteran Lorenzen managed to skate by, allowing just four earned runs despite walking six across four and a third innings pitched, the Rockies offense made Ryan Gusto pay for his mishaps.

Similarly to his counterpart, Gusto struggled with command, walking two and throwing 21 of his 50 offerings out of the zone. Unfortunately for the right-hander, Colorado's offense came through for their guy going 6-for-10 with RISP, chasing the Marlins' spot starter after three innings.

Bad quickly turned to worse following Gusto's departure, as a back-breaking seven-run sixth off Calvin Faucher and Cade Gibson all but put the nail in the coffin.

Miami continues westward to conclude their three-city road trip in the new confines of Sacramento. Taking the ball for McCullough in the club's first ever game at Sutter Health Park on Friday night is Tyler Phillips, coming off a stellar eight-inning outing a Sunday ago in St. Louis. First pitch for a vintage "Late Night With The Fish" is set for 9:40 pm EST.

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