After taking a crucial game one against the Los Angeles Dodgers, the vibes around the Miami Marlins were high as they beat one of the best teams in baseball and had won five in a row overall. But prior to Wednesday’s game, they learned that both Sandy Alcantara and Jorge Soler had placed on the IL. Despite the deflating news, the Marlins still had a game to play.
The Marlins went with JT Chargois as the opener and decided to go with a fairly traditional bullpen until the top of the fifth inning, which is when they went with Edward Cabrera who took most of the workload.
The only run that the Dodgers scored against the Marlins first three pitchers was a Jason Heyward solo homer which A.J. Puk surrendered. That was the ninth home run that Puk surrendered. Heyward’s only two hits against left-handed pitchers this season have both been home runs. Dodgers led, 1-0.
The bottom of the fifth inning saw two unlikely candidates spark the offense against Lance Lynn. First, Jacob Stallings led the inning off with a 102.5 mph double which was followed by a Joey Wendle 105.5 mph homer to right field to put the Marlins ahead, 2-1. Prior to Wendle’s homer, he was slashing .095/.136/.143/.279 in his last 10 games, so if someone needed a big at bat, it was the slumping Wendle.
“He’s been fighting,” said Skip Schumaker. “Every day, he was trying to get back on track and obviously not where he’s wanting to be. This part of the season, you can throw all that stuff away and know that we’re trying to get to where we want to get to with 20-something games left and so he’s out there trying.”
The home runs didn’t end there. After Wendle’s home run, Luis Arráez and Jake Burger worked walks to get on base. Cleanup hitter Jazz Chisholm Jr. hit a three-run homer to left field and the Marlins led, 5-1. That was Chisholm Jr.’s 16th home run of the season.
“Sometimes when you hit a couple of home runs, you start to overswing,” said Skip Schumaker. “I still feel like he’s taking good at-bats and not overswinging. He’s got enough twitch and enough talent. He doesn’t need to create more and I think he’s starting to understand that.”
After Bryan De La Cruz popped out, Jesús Sánchez followed him up and his a solo homer 441 feet into the second deck and that extended the Marlins lead, 6-1. That was Sánchez’s 14th home run of the season.
Back-to-back singles brought to you by Xavier Edwards and Jacob Stallings (bunt single) set up a Joey Wendle RBI single which was then followed by a Luis Arráez RBI double. Marlins took a 9-1 lead in the bottom of the fifth inning.
That huge bottom of the fifth by the Marlins set a season high for runs scored in an inning.
The Marlins final two runs of the game came thanks to Joey Wendle and pinch-hitter Yuli Gurriel, who both had RBI doubles. That gave the Marlins a 11-1 lead.
Edward Cabrera, who was making his first appearance back after being sent down to AAA Jacksonville, looked great. Cabrera struck out eight hitters through four scoreless innings of work and only walked two batters, which occurred in his first inning.
After the initial control issues, Cabrera attacked the strike zone a lot more in his start, throwing more than two-thirds of his pitches for strikes. He got ahead in the count a lot, which was a key factor that led to him generating swing-and-miss outside the zone for K’s. Postgame, when speaking to Cabrera, he really emphasized that what he was working on in AAA translated to his appearance.
The Marlins ended up winning the game by a final score of 11-4. Bryan Hoeing entered the game in the ninth and gave up a couple of runs, including a home run to James Outman.
The Marlins go for the sweep on Thursday with Braxton Garrett on the mound for Miami.
Photo by Megan Briggs/Getty Images
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