Mistakes abundant as Miami Marlins drop series to Philadelphia Phillies
.JPG "Philadelphia Phillies shortstop Jean Segura, left, throws to first base after forcing out Miami Marlins’ Brian Anderson at second on a double play during the fourth inning of a baseball game, Sunday, April 28, 2019, in Philadelphia. Starlin Castro was out at first on the play. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)")
The Miami Marlins’ mistakes piled up on Sunday.
Wild pitches and walks from the pitchers. Weak ground balls and double plays from the offense.
It all compacted into a 5-1 loss to the Philadelphia Phillies to close the four-game series at Citizens Bank Park. After winning the series opener against the Phillies in extra innings on Thursday night, the Marlins dropped the final three games of the road set to go 2-4 on the road trip, which included a two-game series split with the Cleveland Indians.
“Disappointing after the first game,” Marlins manager Don Mattingly said. “That’s pretty much the whole thing for me. You win Game 1 of a four-game set, you should be able to get a split out of that if you pitch well. ... We gained some momentum and then fizzled after that.”
Little went the Marlins’ way in the finale. They scratched across just one run against Zach Eflin despite out-hitting the Phillies 7-4. A pair of double plays wiped out potential scoring rallies in both the fourth and the eighth.
The lone run for the Marlins (8-20): an two-out RBI single from Miguel Rojas in the fourth that scored Martin Prado, who led off the frame with a single, moved over to second on a Brian Anderson single and reached third when Starlin Castro grounded into a double play.
The Marlins had no more than one baserunner in any other inning.
“We didn’t really get anything going all day long,” Mattingly said.
Meanwhile, mistakes riddled Pablo Lopez’s outing one start after he carried a no-hitter into the seventh inning. Walks to Bryce Harper in the first and Andrew McCutchen in the third ultimately led to three runs for the Phillies (16-12).
Rhys Hoskins followed up Harper’s two-out walk in the first with a double on a full count over Isaac Galloway’s head that scored Harper from first. Lopez threw 17 total pitches betwen Harper and Hoskins’ two plate appearances in a 26-pitch opening frame.
In the third, after McCutchen’s one-out walk, Jean Segura hit a sharp groundball down the first base line and into the corner in right field for an RBI triple. Segura came home himself on a Harper RBI groundout.
“I fell behind guys and gave up walks that came back to score,” Lopez said. “This is when getting ahead and staying ahead comes into play so you can keep a tempo and rhythm going.”
Lopez had that tempo in the fourth and fifth innings, retiring all six batters he faced on just 21 pitches, before falling into trouble again in the sixth.
Segura opened that frame with a single before hitting Harper with a curveball on a 1-2 count. A double play moved Segura to third with two outs and a wild pitch on a curveball to Nick Williams brought Segura home.
Lopez’s final line after ultimately walking Williams on the next pitch: 5 2/3 innings pitched, three hits, four earned runs, three walks, a hit batter and four strikeouts. He threw 94 pitches, 60 for strikes. Only half of his curveballs and change-ups went for strikes. His record drops to 2-4 on the season and his ERA rose to 4.78.
After a clean 1 1/3 innings on the mound from Nick Anderson, who struck out three of the four batters he faced, Marlins reliever Tayron Guerrero gave up one more run in the eighth on three walks, a hit and a pair of wild pitches.
The Marlins have an off day Monday before beginning a two-game home series with the Cleveland Indians on Tuesday.
This story was originally published April 28, 2019 at 3:40 PM.
.JPG)