Miami Marlins hit four homers and walk off in extras to avoid sweep to Reds
The Miami Marlins have fallen victim to the home-run ball so many times this year — with the results magnified over the past month.
They flipped the script on Thursday and did just enough late to bring out some heroics in their series finale against the Cincinnati Reds.
The Marlins hit four solo home runs — none bigger than Harold Ramirez’s in the 12th — in their 4-3, 12-inning walk-off win over the Reds to avoid the four-game sweep at Marlins Park.
Thursday marked the first time the Marlins had four solo home runs account for all of their runs in a given game.
It was also Ramirez’s second walk-off homer of his career — both coincidentally coming in the 12th inning — and the fourth of five Marlins walk-offs he was involved in this season.
“I might need to start leaving him on the bench until it’s walk-off time,” Marlins manager Don Mattingly said. “Harold can hit.”
And his hit at the very least salvaged something from the series after the Marlins (48-85) lost the first three games 6-3 on Monday, 8-5 on Tuesday and 5-0 on Wednesday.
Jon Berti, Austin Dean and Starlin Castro also went deep in the win, the Marlins’ first and only victory in seven games this year against Cincinnati. Thursday marked just the second time this year that the Marlins hit four home runs in a single game. The other: Their 19-11 win over the Philadelphia Phillies on Friday to start the homestand.
The homers backed up a strong performance from Robert Dugger, who was making his second career MLB start and looking to rebound from a shaky MLB debut against the New York Mets on Aug. 5. Dugger, the Marlins’ No. 24 overall prospect according to MLBPipeline, held the Reds (63-70) to just two unearned runs on three hits and a walk while striking out seven in seven innings.
All the damage against Dugger came on an Astrides Aquino two-out, two-run home run in the first after a Lewis Brinson fielding error in center field allowed Joey Votto to reach base. The home run was the 71st allowed by Marlins pitching over the last 30 games.
Dugger proceeded to retire 20 of the final 23 batters he faced.
“He threw the ball good all night,” Mattingly said. “... He hung in there and stayed with the game plan.”
His highlight performance came in the seventh. With runners on the corners and two outs, Dugger capped a 13-pitch at-bat with Jose Iglesias by getting the Reds shortstop to swing at a slider in the dirt to end the inning. Iglesias fouled off nine consecutive pitches in the at-bat.
“That was a battle for the ages,” Dugger said. “We finally mixed in a breaking ball there at the end. He was in swing mode with the fastball and swung over it.”
The offense showed similar resiliency, slowly chipping away at their deficit against Reds starter Alex Wood.
Berti hit a leadoff home run — his third leadoff homer of the year and the Marlins’ seventh overall — to cut the deficit in half.
Dean, who came into Thursday hitting .206 in 37 major-league games, tied the game with a 402 foot shot to left field.
Castro then put the Marlins ahead for the first time with a home run to left field in the sixth.
Ryne Stanek gave up a game-tying RBI single to Aquino in the eighth inning to force extra innings.
Jeff Brigham threw a scoreless 10th inning and Tyler Kinley was perfect in the 11th and 12th to give Ramirez the chance to end the game and avoid the sweep.
What a catch
Marlins second baseman Isan Diaz made a diving back-handed grab while in the shift to rob the Reds’ Votto of a base hit in the sixth inning. The lineout had a .920 expected batting average according to Statcast, meaning that it would have been at least a base hit 92 percent of the time.
On the road again
The Marlins now prepare for a seven-day, six-game road trip during which they will play three games at the Washington Nationals and three at the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Miami has dropped 12 consecutive road games, which is tied for the most in franchise history.
Minor-league updates
Two of the Marlins’ minor-league affiliates had the end of their seasons impacted due to the impending path of Hurricane Dorian, which is projected to make landfall in Florida either late Sunday or early Monday.
The Gulf Coast League, with teams throughout South Florida, opted to finish its regular season on Thursday and cancel its playoffs. The Marlins’ GCL affiliate won the East Division title with a 28-22 record.
The Marlins’ Class A advanced affiliate Jupiter Hammerheads, part of the Florida State League, ended their season with a 7-1 loss to the New York Yankees affiliate Tampa Tarpons on Thursday. Their originally scheduled three-game road series with the Reds affiliate Daytona Tortugas to close out the year was canceled.
This story was originally published August 29, 2019 at 10:46 PM.
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