After dropping game one of the three-game set, the Marlins offense woke up early, leading by as many as four runs. However, Miami’s pitching staff had a lot of trouble continue the Orioles offense as well. The Fish lost once again on Saturday, this time by the final score of 6-5.
The Miami offense wasted no time getting to former Phillies pitcher Kyle Gibson. Jesus Sanchez got the second inning going with a single followed by a single by Yuli Gurriel, but Sánchez noticed that the center fielder wasn’t making much of an effort to go for the ball and pushed for third, which allowed Gurriel to get to second o the throw. Jean Segura then hit an RBI single to drive in Sanchez and move Gurriel to third.
Still, with no outs in the top of the second, Joey Wendle hit an RBI single that drove in Yuli and moved Segura to second. Miami extends the lead, 2-0. A soft dribbler by Nick Fortes moved both Segura and Wendle into scoring position. Dane Myers then pushed across another un on a fielder’s choice. The rally was capped off by a Luis Arráez RBI single, stretching the lead to 4-0.
The Orioles answered right back in the bottom of the second inning. They would tack on three runs of their own. A Ryan Mountcastle double was followed by Aaron Hicks working a walk, and then Cedric Mullins, who did damage to Miami’s pitching staff on Friday, smacked an RBI single driving in Mountcastle and moving Hicks to second.
With Mullins on first, Jordan Westburg was at the plate and he hit a foul ball that just barely missed staying fair for an extra-base hit. Mullins was removed for a pinch-hitter after that pitch due to what was later announced as right quadricep tightness. Colton Cowser entered the game to pinch-run for him and replace him in center field.
After Westburg struck out, Gunnar Henderson grounded out, but moved both runners into scoring position. Jorge Mateo, who has struggled for the majority of the season, smacked an RBI triple which drove in both Hicks and Cowser and the Orioles were down by just one.
Miami’s fifth run of the night came on a Bryan De La Cruz sac fly which drove in Dane Myers who had a base hit in his at bat. Miami extends their lead, 5-3.
Braxton Garrett struck out five, one walk, but gave up four runs off of six hits. Garrett went into his deep pitch mix, leaning heaviest on his sinker and cutter. His overall performance would’ve been better if the inexperienced center fielder Myers had gotten a better read on the Mateo triple—although not charged with an error, it was a catchable ball that led to two extra runs scoring. Still, you have to tip your cap to the Orioles offense, which is one of the best in baseball.
Skip Schumaker took out Garrett with two outs in the fifth after allowing an RBI single to Anthony Santander.
On the other end, Kyle Gibson lived up to his groundball-heavy reputation. He only struck out one Marlin among the 28 total batters he faced. The Orioles offense bailed Gibson out for the most part as he left the game only being down a run. He still made a contribution by giving the Orioles length and lasting 5.1 innings.
Miami went with Huascar Brazoban in the seventh inning. On the first pitch he threw, Gunnar Henderson took Brazoban deep for a 371-foot solo homer tying the game at 5-5. That was Henderson’s 14th home run of the season.
The Orioles saw Brazoban very well as Austin Hayes and Adley Rutschman had back-to-back singles, but Hayes went to third on Adley’s single. With runners on the corners and one out, Santander smacked another RBI single, scoring Hayes and giving the Orioles their first lead of the ballgame at 6-5.
After the Orioles took the lead in the bottom of the seventh, Miami was unable to score any runs. The closest they got was when Jorge Soler launched a 393-foot fly ball in the eighth, just missing a go-ahead homer. Felix Bautista shut the door for the second night in a row. Baltimore clinches the series against Miami.
The Marlins will lean on a bullpen day to try to salvage Sunday’s game. Steven Okert will be their opener for the first time in his career, with George Soriano and Johnny Cueto available to eat the bulk of the innings in relief. Game begins at 1:35 pm EST.
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