Marlins shuffle lineup but fall to Nationals for seventh loss in past nine games
The Miami Marlins returned from a weeklong stay on the West Coast on Friday looking for answers to fix their increasingly anemic offense.
Their six games against the Dodgers and Padres yielded just 18 runs, and 11 of those came in the opener of the six-game road trip last Friday. They tumbled from a virtual tie for the third and final wild card in the National League to several games out, and rejiggered their lineup to kick off a weekend series with the Washington Nationals to try to stop their slide.
Jazz Chisholm Jr. went to the leadoff spot, Jorge Soler slid back to No. 2 and Luis Arraez to No. 3, and none of it mattered. The Marlins fell 7-4 in Miami for their seventh loss in nine games.
“We’re better than that. I know we’re better than that,” manager Skip Schumaker said. “It’s not for lack of trying, it’s not for lack of effort, it’s not for lack of urgency, it’s not for lack of game-planning. We have to execute, and we’re just not executing right now.”
The Marlins (65-64) didn’t get a hit until the sixth inning against Joan Adon, who entered the game with a 7.00 ERA, and didn’t score a single run against the Nationals starting pitcher in his six innings.
They fell behind immediately when Washington shortstop C.J. Abrams, the first batter of the game, hit a leadoff single, stole third base and then scored on a soft ground ball.
By the time it finally put a runner in scoring position, Miami was already down 3-0 and its deficit swelled to 6-0 in the top of the seventh before the Marlins finally broke through by scoring four runs against the Nationals’ bullpen.
“We’ve got to figure out a way to get to the starting pitcher. We haven’t really done a good job of that lately,” Schumaker said. “We’ve got to figure out a way to attack that starting pitcher. We kind of dug ourselves a bit of a hole.”
All four of Miami’s runs came in the seventh, with five consecutive hits against Washington relief pitcher Mason Thompson to start the bottom of the frame giving the Marlins a chance at a comeback. Chisholm got the fourth run home with an RBI groundout for the first out of the inning and then Soler hit into a double play to end the frame and Miami’s comeback came up short.
Throw away the seventh inning and the Marlins had just three hits, no walks and no runs. Only Bryan De La Cruz reached base safely multiple times — once on a hit by pitch in the fifth inning, then two singles in the seventh and ninth innings — and fellow outfielder Jesus Sanchez and catcher Nick Fortes had the only extra-base hits, both as part of the four-run seventh.
The loss — with its attempt a rally coming too late and pitcher Braxton Garrett, even after delivering a quality start with three earned runs in six innings, pounding his glove upon the dugout bench after exiting — leaves the Marlins with another missed opportunity.
The Nationals, despite their top-10 record in the past two months, still came to loanDepot park with the worst record in the NL East and Miami couldn’t capitalize on another chance to pick up a badly needed win, leaving the 12,409 frustrated and mostly silent as the Marlins’ postseason hopes continue to dwindle.
Miami still sits multiple games out of the NL’s last playoff spot — 2 1/2 games behind the Cubs and at least two behind the Diamondbacks, who play late Friday — and now have just 33 games left to claw their way back.
“I don’t think the word frustrating is coming up at all,” Sanchez said through an interpreter. “Sometimes you win, you lose games. You’ve got to continue, but there’s no frustration.”
Up next
The Marlins are in danger of losing a fourth straight series as they continue a three-game set with Washington at 4:10 p.m. in South Florida.
Rookie starting pitcher Eury Perez will be on the mound for Miami, making his fourth start since returning from a monthlong absence earlier this month. The Nationals (60-69) will also have a rookie starting pitcher on the mound, as Jake Irvin is set to make his 20th start of his debut season.
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