Miami Marlins rallies negated by Rays home runs in series-opening loss
.JPG "Miami Marlins’ Brian Anderson gets tagged out by Tampa Bay Rays third baseman Matt Duffy, right, after attempting to advance on a flyout by Garrett Cooper during the third inning of a baseball game Saturday, Aug. 3, 2019, in St. Petersburg, Fla.")
The Miami Marlins strung together enough at-bats to take the lead against the Tampa Bay Rays on three separate occasions on Saturday night.
The Rays needed one swing of the bat to get right back into the game each time. A fourth gave them the lead for good.
Willy Adames hit a go-ahead home run off Jarlin Garcia in the bottom of the eighth inning to lift the Rays to a 8-6 win over the Marlins to start a quick, two-game series at Tropicana Field.
All but one of the Rays’ runs on Saturday came via home run. Eric Sorgard hit two homers against Elieser Hernandez and drove in five runs in his first home game for the Rays since being acquired in a trade-deadline deal with the Toronto Blue Jays. Austin Meadows tied the game in the seventh with a solo home run off Jose Quijada before Adames’ 14th homer of the season became the decisive run.
The first three undid Marlins rally attempts.
Miami (42-66) took the early 1-0 lead in the second when Jalen Beeks hit Cesar Puello with a pitch with the bases loaded to force in a run. Sogard responded with a two-run home run in the bottom half of the inning, sending an 0-1 fastball from Hernandez 378 feet to right field. 2-1 Rays.
The Marlins went on top again in the third, with a Starlin Castro two-run home run that went 438 feet to straightaway center field highlighted a three-run, seven-batter inning. A Garrett Cooper sacrifice fly gave Miami its first run of that inning. Brian Anderson was doubled up trying to advance to third base on that play. Sogard then hit a three-run home run to right field in the home half of the inning. 5-4 Rays.
A two-run top of the seventh that saw Jon Berti hit an RBI single and Anderson hit a go-ahead sac fly was balanced out by an Austin Meadows solo home run to lead off the bottom of the seventh. 6-6 ball game.
It all set the stage for Adames’ game winner, which traveled 373 feet into the left-field seats. The Rays (64-48) added an insurance run on a Travis d’Arnaud RBI single in the eighth that scored Ji-Man Choi. The two runs snapped Garcia’s consecutive scoreless innings streak at 20, the third-longest stretch in Marlins history.
Marlins pitchers walked eight batters on Saturday. Three of them scored.
Walker exits
Neil Walker left Saturday’s game after the sixth inning with a jammed right index finger. He is day to day.
Walker collided with the Rays’ Kevin Kiermaier down the first-base line while trying to tag Kiermaier out. Martin Prado replaced Walker in the seventh.
Walker went 1 for 3 in the game and is hitting .262 on the season.
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