Heriberto Hernandez becomes first Marlin to reach 20 home runs

MIAMI, FL — Through the first 22 games of the season, Heriberto Hernandez was slashing .159/.284/.190/.474 with zero home runs and nine RBI. He was sent down to Triple-A Jacksonville on April 27 before being recalled on May 7. Since then, the switch has flipped.

On Tuesday night against the Boston Red Sox, Hernandez hit his 20th home run of the season, doubling his total from last year. The Marlins fell to the Red Sox in extra innings by a final score of 7-3.

Since being recalled from Triple-A, Hernandez entered Tuesday's game slashing .249/.320/.517/.837 with 19 home runs and 44 RBI. In August, he is now slashing .219/.329/.411/.740 with four home runs and 11 RBI.

"The first couple of weeks to start this season, I think circumstances were different," Marlins manager Clayton McCullough said. "It's his first time making an Opening Day roster, somewhat wanting to pick up where he left off and just didn't seem as convicted in his at-bats, didn't seem as aggressive like we've seen him, and since he's come back has been a much different story."

In the bottom of the sixth inning, he took Red Sox starting pitcher Payton Tolle deep, tying the game at two apiece. Hernandez became the tenth Marlin since 2018 to have a 20-homer season, most recently done by Kyle Stowers last year. Hernandez becomes just the third outfielder of that group to accomplish this feat. 

With 10 home runs in 128 plate appearances against left-handed pitching this season, OF Heriberto Hernández owns the third-highest HR/PA rate (.078) among hitters with at least 100 plate appearances against lefties, trailing only Baltimore's Coby Mayo (.108 HR/PA) and Cleveland's Joe Adell (.080 HR/PA).

"I think that he certainly has a real presence in the box," McCullough said. "He gets off really good swings. He can hit fastballs, mistakes and spin in the zone. Hits verse right and left, so his ability to supply some power for us is really important."

After not making his previous scheduled start in favor of a bullpen game, Tyler Phillips took the mound on Tuesday against the Red Sox. Despite surrendering a solo homer to Mickey Gasper, Phillips struck out seven in 4 1/3 innings of work. Victor Vodnik entered the game in the fifth inning to close things out.

Gasper would notch his first career multi-homer game in the top of the sixth inning, hitting his fifth home run of the season off Marlins reliever Tyler Zuber. That gave the Red Sox a 2-1 lead.

When the Marlins added Brian Navarreto to the active roster, he wasn't supposed to play a lot. When Navarreto does play, he is a spark plug in terms of the energy he provides and just another solid defensive catcher behind the plate. On Tuesday, he battled with Tolle in the bottom of the fifth inning. With the bases loaded and one out, Navarreto hit a sac fly to center field, allowing all runners to advance, tying the game, 1-1. In the seventh inning, he had a sac bunt, moving Jakob Marsee from first to second. Navarreto had his sixth caught stealing of the season, throwing out Eli White in the top of the ninth inning.

"He's just a gamer," McCullough said regarding his backstop. "He had some opportunities, nice situations to do some things and he came through. The at-bats now certainly in his last three starts or so have really improved. In an at-bat where you see a lot of pitches, it's still a productive at-bat for the group."

In extra innings, both teams scored a run in the 10th inning. With the bases loaded in the top of the 11th inning, Jarren Duran hit a grand slam off lefty Cade Gibson, giving the Red Sox a 7-3 lead that they wouldn't lose. With the loss, the Marlins drop to 67-66 on the season. Ryan Gusto will go opposite of Sonny Gray as the Fish look to avoid the sweep on Wednesday.