Marlins collapse against Padres behind Ronny Simon's errors, Max Meyer's struggles

Man oh man, this was certainly an interesting game. The Marlins had their most productive first inning of the season, batting around to build a six-run lead. Within an hour, that lead was completely gone. Second baseman Ronny Simon committed three errors (and four total misplays) while starting pitcher Max Meyer failed to miss bats as the Marlins fell to the San Diego Padres by a final score of 8-6.

Simon has been a part-time player for the Marlins since being called up on April 20 with second base being his main position. He had only committed one error there prior to Tuesday's game.

Simon ranged into foul territory to record the first defensive out of the night for the Marlins, then finished off the inning by fielding a routine grounder. However, he mishandled every other ball that came his way and was removed from the game early.

In the bottom of the second inning, with the Marlins leading 6-1, Padres left fielder Tyler Wade hit a grounder towards Simon that deflected off his glove for an RBI single. The rookie made matters worse by throwing wildly to home (his first error). Both Xander Bogaerts and Jake Cronenworth scored to make it a 6-3 game.

In the third inning, Simon was distracted by a Padres hit-and-run and allowed a grounder to get through him into center field. The play was ruled a single as the lead continued to shrink to 6-4.

It became clear that Simon was letting the pressure get to him when he made errors on consecutive plays in the fourth. He allowed Wade to reach first base, then Fernando Tatis Jr. grounded into what could have been a double play, but Simon flipped the ball beyond the reach of shortstop Javier Sanoja,

Following the inning, the Marlins took Simon out, moving Sanoja from short to second base. Otto Lopez entered the game at shortstop. 

"Things just started to snowball a little bit and the compound effect was tough," said Marlins manager Clayton McCullough. "Just thought for us and him in that moment that making the change, that was prudent with how things had transpired."

As much as Simon opened the door for the Padres to rally, Marlins starting pitcher Max Meyer turned in one of his worst starts of the season, not striking anyone out for a second time in 2025 and allowing six runs (four earned). His 3 ⅓ innings of work also marked his shortest outing of the season.

"Maybe not his crispiest stuff, but I think he was out there battling and kept trying to make pitches," said McCullough. "You gave them some extra outs that made things difficult, but I felt Max just kept going. Competed his butt off out there tonight."

Although Meyer's slider can be his best weapon, it was not effective in this outing. San Diego hitters posted a 98.2 mph average exit velocity against it with no whiffs.

Here's what Meyer told the media regarding Simon's rough defensive night: "I told him, 'I know you’re not trying to do that behind me. Keep your head up.' Stuff like that is going to happen. It’s baseball at the end of the day and I’m not going to hold anything behind him.”

Miami's first-inning explosion off of Stephen Kolek began when lead-off hitter Jesús Sánchez stayed hot with a single to center field. Kyle Stowers, Liam Hicks, Connor Norby and Ronny Simon each drove in a run apiece.

Victor Mesa Jr., who was making his first career start, recorded his first career hit and RBI during the rally. The ball left the bat at 104.8 mph. Sanoja drove in the sixth and final Marlins run of the game on a sac fly.

"Excited for him and that had to feel great," said McCullough about Mesa's milestone. "For us at that time, that was a big hit to keep the momentum going and pushing a run across."

Former Marlin Luis Arraez made a major impact. He ripped an RBI single up the middle against Meyer to drive in the game-tying run. Next time up with two outs in the fifth inning, he singled off of Anthony Bender's unhittable sweeper to give the Padres a 7-6 lead.

Valente Bellozo worked the final three innings of the game. Jackson Merrill's solo homer in the bottom of the eighth inning put the nail in the coffin.

With the loss, the Marlins dropped to 21-32 on the season. This was their first blown lead of six runs or more since April 28, 2024.

McCullough will send Sandy Alcantara to the mound as the Marlins try to salvage the series. First pitch is at 4:10 pm on getaway day.