'It sucks': Twelfth straight loss sets Marlins franchise record

[Nate Karzmer]

MIAMI -- In retrospect, it was too good to be true.

The dark clouds that surrounded loanDepot park throughout Sunday afternoon cleared up to reveal a Miami skyline beaming in the July sun, serving as a light at the end of the tunnel for the 21,675 inside. The Marlins, amidst their dreadful eleven-game skid, stood a mere six outs away from avoiding infamy and crawling back to a respectable .500 even after a streak of such magnitude.

While all signs pointed to a picture-perfect conclusion of a forgettable two weeks, the young Fish were instead gut-punched as hard as ever. Two homers in four swings from a duo of San Diego stars off Lake Bachar left Miami in disarray and without the lead they had held since the second inning. Minutes later, their fate was decided. A 5-3, franchise-record-setting twelfth consecutive loss in such brutal fashion has a team that was on top of the world less than a month ago desperately trying to stay afloat.

"There's no hiding from it," Marlins skipper Clayton McCullough said postgame. "Does anybody feel good? Certainly not. But to come in here each day and cry about it or make excuses, I don't know what that's going to do. We have a very prideful group that is certainly upset, frustrated, angry about how things are going, but we're the only ones that can change that. When you turn it around and come back tomorrow, it's going to be staring at us again; we just got to meet this head-on and continue. For me, there's really no other choice."

While McCullough's group jumped out to an early 3-0 lead, issues that continue to plague his club in this stretch showed their head late -- inefficient offense and a bullpen missing Anthony Bender.

Following Kyle Stowers ' lead-extending blast in the third, the rest of Miami's offense mustered up two hits the rest of the contest. Through all twelve of their defeats, the Marlins have scored more than three runs in just two games. As a team, they rank bottom three in hits, average and OPS.

Janson Junk , who tied his season high in strikeouts with six and conceded just one run through four and two thirds was more than good enough for Miami to win. Unfortunately, while four relievers combined to forfeit a single hit, Bachar was dinged for the remaining four of the five Friar runs in that back-breaking eighth.

"It sucks," Junk said of the skid. "It's not fun going through it, but we just got to take it day by day."

Although the aforementioned light seems as far away as ever, McCullough believes not only his players, but staff can pull themselves out of this rut against the terrifying trio of Zack Wheeler, Aaron Nola and Jesus Luzardo in their next three games. Game one against division rival Philadelphia is set for 6:40 pm EST Monday night.

"I think more than just encouraged and continue to be that I watch how our staff approaches each day like nothing has changed," said McCullough. "Is that to say that guys feel great right now in (the clubhouse)? No, everybody's beat up right now. I mean that's just the reality when your job when you are frustrated at work and things aren't going well, you feel like s**t, and that's where a lot of guys are. But you know what? Every day, they come back here, guys are showing up, they're ready, guys are coming in still getting prepared, and you know when that game starts, all 26 of our players, every member of our staff believes that we're going to win that day's game. So, that for me is the encouraging part. As difficult as this has been, that each day when we come in, we're very much believing that you know today is going to be the day that we we turn it around."

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[1993 fan from start]

I am not blaming lake 100 percent. and this is not the full story of the game. by the writer.

MY feeling about the game went from 80 percent win . TO 0 percent win . when I seen Javier Sanoja come in the game. running to third  from second for what? and made it worst by bring in Leo . made lineup worst . when you was winning.. any other coach would left lineup along when winning.   and  did not understand Sanojo was in right. if their was not a spot for him.

[1993 fan from start]

bullpen missing Anthony Bender lol more the team missing conner and Owens. 

[Jose Herrera]

@1993 fan from start great point, I think we are certainly missing Owen Caissie. Right now, we are missing an imposing power threat in the bottom half of our lineup.

[Jose Herrera]

I love this team; we set a franchise record for most wins in a month and followed that with the record for most consecutive losses. When we get out of this slump, I think our team will be transformed for the better.

[Hippyboi]

12 hours ago, 1993 fan from start said:

bullpen missing Anthony Bender lol more the team missing conner and Owens. 

I don't miss Connor. 

[Shawn]

I personally starting to believe Clayton has a gambling problem and is throwing games at this point. Use high leverage Peterson in the 5th inning. Great move going win it in the 5th. What the hell was lake doing trying to hold it down in the 8th. Bullpen is missing some pieces right now but using lake in the 8th by far the worst I’ve seen. Let the fire sale begin thanks to piss pour management. 

[1993 fan from start]

1 hour ago, Hippyboi said:

I don't miss Connor. 

I don't miss Agustín Ramírez ALSO . I DO know number show team win more and play better with  NORBY . What has team done without Norby.  

I would weather take more production vs Sanoja 261 ab 25 R, RBI 35 5 SB 9 errors at 3b.  Conner can surpass that 200 abs 17 R ,16 Rbi SB 6  o error at 3b this year.   27 -22 winning record when he plays. .  Vs losing record with two others one is   Heriberto in lineup 6-18 when he hits above 5 in the order.   and 8 -25 when  Sanoji hits above 9th in batting order.       not saying it a fix.  as the saying goes number don't lie.

[One Regend]

Bro, the glazing on Connor Norby is unreal. They're not getting anything out of a guy who provides -0.1 WAR and minimal offensive production. He's not going to suddenly win any of the 12 games the Marlins lost in a row.