Marsee's first career homer not enough, Marlins lose to Astros again

MIAMI, FL—Outfielder Jakob Marsee has been doing it all since being called up by the Miami Marlins. In addition to looking right at home in center field, Marsee became the fifth player in franchise history to record at least one single, one double, one triple and one home run in his first five career games. It wasn't enough on Tuesday as the Fish fell by a final score of 7-3 to the Houston Astros, snapping their streak of six straight series wins.

Marsee's milestone home run came in the bottom of the fifth inning off of Astros long man AJ Blubaugh. The ball left the bat at 105.6 mph and went 409 feet into the visitor's bullpen.

Someone in the 'pen tossed the ball up to an Astros fan in the stands, unaware it was Marsee's first career homer, so the Marlins had to negotiate to get the ball back. In exchange for it, the fan received a signed bat, ball, photo and Marlins merch.

"She didn't want much and was really easy to communicate with, so it was really nice of her to be able to give that up," Marsee said postgame.

Marsee finished the night 2-for-2 with a home run, two RBI and a walk before being removed for a pinch-hitter in the bottom of the ninth. He has a .500/.647/1.167/1.814 slash line overall.

Cal Quantrill, whose name circulated in rumors leading up to last week's trade deadline, was not dealt. In his first start post-deadline, he went 4 ⅓ innings pitched, allowing seven runs on nine hits, three walks and two strikeouts. It was a season-high in hits allowed and tied a season-high in earned runs allowed.

Jose Altuve's home run off Quantrill in the top of the first inning put him in sole possession of third place on the franchise's extra-base hits list (728), behind Jeff Bagwell (969) and Craig Biggio (1,014). It gave the Astros a 2-0 lead. In the top of the fourth, Jeremy Peña hit an RBI triple, driving in two more runs. Yainer Diaz's 16th home run of the season blew the game open, giving the Astros a 7-1 lead. 

The veteran who Marsee was called up to replace, Jesús Sánchez, had a 2-for-5 night for the Astros (both hits coming off of Quantrill).

In recent starts, Quantrill had been efficient and able to induce plenty of ground balls. That was not the case on Tuesday night—only three of the batted balls put in play were on the ground (15.0 GB%). His cutter, which has been his most-used pitch this season along with his best in terms of run value (+11 RV), was hit hard, posting an average exit velo of 95.8 mph.

"I don't think any pitches were that bad," Quantrill said postgame. "It's just really the location. Need to be 0-1, 1-2 on guys—just didn't do a very good job of that. Made a couple bad pitches with runners on and it kind of burned me. It's been a good two months and it can't be perfect, so put this one behind us and keep on going."

The last time Eric Wagaman hit a home run going into Tuesday's game was on June 17 against the Philadelphia Phillies. In the bottom of the seventh inning, he ended that drought. The ball went 103.7 mph to right-center field. The Marlins still trailed, 7-3. Wagaman finished the day going 1-for-2 with a home run and two walks.

"Boosted confidence," is what Wagaman thinks a night like tonight can do for him. "If you can take that to the next day and just 'let the game come to you' type of thing, I think pressing for hits, forcing those good ABs—that's when stuff starts to go downhill. You just gotta go out there and keep a clear mind."

With the loss, the Marlins fall two games under .500. The Fish will send out Janson Junk in hopes to salvage the series on Wednesday,. The Astros will go with Spencer Arrighetti, who is coming off the injured list after missing the last four months due to a broken thumb. First pitch is at 4:40 pm.