Marlins' 12-hit night not enough in series-opening loss

On Saturday, the Miami Marlins and Philadelphia Phillies were tied at one apiece. Skip Schumaker went with rookie Anthony Maldonado, who had yet to give up a run in the major leagues. Maldonado left that outing giving up two runs (plus one runner inherited from Jesús Luzardo).

On Monday in the series-opening game against the Detroit Tigers, the Marlins led 5-3 entering the bottom of the eighth inning. Schumaker went with Maldonado to see if he could redeem himself. Unfortunately, Maldonado gave up an RBI single to Andy Ibañez, and after striking out Matt Vierling, he threw a slider right down the middle that former number one overall draft pick Spencer Torkelson crushed for the longest home run of his career. That gave the Tigers a 6-5 lead in their eventual victory over the Marlins.

Maldonado's best pitch is his slider and he has leaned on it heavily since being called up. That was especially true on Monday: all four of his pitches to Torkelson were sliders and so were 20 of his 23 overall pitches in the inning,

"That's his out pitch," said manager Skip Schumaker. "I think he just failed to expand. It backed up, hung middle-up to a really dangerous hitter. Good big league hitters will make you pay. Unfortunately, he didn't miss it."

Entering the game, the Marlins ranked second-to-last among MLB teams in hitter fWAR (-0.7), just ahead of the Chicago White Sox. Impressively, their offense scored five unanswered runs to come back from an early 3-0 deficit.

Four players in the Miami lineup had multi-hit games. That includes Jazz Chisholm Jr.—his third consecutive multi-hit game—and Nick Gordon, who had his second three-hit game of the season. Gordon was inconsistent during his first month as a Marlin (he was acquired from the Minnesota Twins in exchange for Steven Okert during the offseason). However, with more consistent playing time, he has begun finding more success. So far in May, Gordon is slashing .353/.371/.559/.930 with two home runs and four RBIs.

Josh Bell is heating up in May as well, slashing .293/.408/.488/.896. On Monday, down 3-1 in the top of the fifth inning, Bell smacked an RBI double driving in Bryan De La Cruz from first base.

Back-to-back-to-back RBIs for the Marlins tied the game up at three apiece.

In the top of the eighth inning, Otto Lopez hit a two-run homer to take a 5-3 lead. Lopez has played in 17 games this season since being claimed off waivers by the Marlins and has been everything they could've asked more and even more. Including his two-run home run, Lopez is slashing .313/.371/.656/1.027. Lopez is expected to be a mainstay in the Marlins lineup due to the back injury of Tim Anderson.

"He just goes about it the right way," said Schumaker. "His preparation is excellent. The way he goes about it in infield drills and batting practice, the whole thing. He's a real likable guy that you root for because of how hard he works and how hard he prepares. We're giving him an opportunity with the (Luis Arraez) trade and he's making the most of it and I am proud with how he's going about it."

The Marlins starting pitcher on Monday was Sixto Sánchez, who had his best start of the season, going 4 ⅔ innings, giving up zero earned runs (three unearned runs), five hits, two walks and two strikeouts. Sánchez only generated three whiffs, recording swinging strikeouts on his four-seam fastball and cutter.

A big factor working in Sánchez's favor was his 71% ground ball rate. If not for an error by Vidal Bruján, he would have likely pitched even deeper into the game.

"Defense was making some plays other than the one error, which was good for him," said Schumaker. "I thought the velo increased again...Everything else is so much better when he's like that."

The expectation is that Sánchez will be back on the mound on Sunday in the series finale against the New York Mets. 

With the loss, the Marlins now find themselves with an 11-32 record while the Tigers are back over .500 at 21-20 and at .500 in one-run games. Ryan Weathers takes the mound for Miami on Tuesday, looking to even the series at one apiece. First pitch will be at 6:40 pm.