Pablo Lopez goes toe to toe with deGrom, but Miami Marlins drop fifth consecutive game
This wasn’t how the season was supposed to play out. Pablo Lopez wasn’t supposed to be the face of the Miami Marlins’ rotation.
But when the top three members of the starting rotation became part of the 18-player brigade that tested positive for COVID-19 on the first road trip of the season, Lopez found himself taking on the added responsibility of being the Marlins’ most experienced active starting pitcher.
“Right now,” Marlins manager Don Mattingly said pregame, “we would have to call Pablo the ace of our staff.”
Lopez has certainly pitched like it. Wednesday was more of the same, even in a 5-3 loss to the New York Mets that extended Miami’s losing streak to five consecutive games and drops the Marlins to 9-9 on the season.
Michael Conforto hit a go-ahead two-run home run in the ninth against Brandon Kintzler after Miami rallied in the eighth to tie the game.
But the (relatively speaking) high-scoring finish shouldn’t put a damper on what Lopez did Wednesday, going toe to toe with two-time defending National League Cy Young Award winner Jacob deGrom.
Lopez held the Mets to two runs on seven hits over 6 1/3 innings at Marlins Park. He struck out five and his only walk was an intentional free pass to Pete Alonso in the seventh.
The two runs he gave up: A sacrifice fly to Wilson Ramos in the second that scored Alonso, who singled and reached third on a Luis Guillorme double that barely stayed fair down the third-base line against the shift, and a Guillorme RBI single through the right side in the seventh that ended Lopez’s night.
Through four starts, Lopez has a 2.42 ERA and 24 strikeouts against five walks (one intentional) through 22 1/3 innings.
The Mets (12-14) added an insurance run in the eighth when Dominic Smith hit an RBI double against Josh D. Smith.
Lopez’s biggest problem wasn’t necessarily what he did on the mound. It was the fact that deGrom kept a Marlins offense that was already struggling from finding any success.
deGrom struck out seven, allowed four hits and allowed just one runner to get into scoring position during his six innings of work.
The Marlins avoided the shutout when Eddy Alvarez scored on a wild pitch in the seventh after the Mets went to their bullpen. They tied the game with two outs in the eighth when the Mets’ bullpen forced in two runs. Dellin Betances hit Alvarez with the bases loaded to cut Miami’s deficit to one. Edwin Diaz then walked Logan Forsythe on five pitches to tie the game before Conforto’s home run sealed the Mets’ victory.
Villar sits
Jonathan Villar got a day out of the starting lineup Tuesday after Mattingly said he “seems to be dragging to me.”
“Just looks a little flat out there,” Mattingly said, “so I wanted to get him off his feet at least for a day here.”
Villar, however, entered the game as a pinch-hitter for Lewis Brinson in the seventh inning and played the final two innings in center field.
Villar was one of three players to start each of Miami’s first 17 games along with Jesus Aguilar and Brian Anderson. He entered Wednesday tied for the MLB lead with six stolen bases while also hitting .239 with two home runs, seven RBI and six runs scored. He had hits in six of the last seven games entering Wednesday.
Outfielder Magneuris Sierra took Villar’s usual spot at the top of the lineup.
This and that
▪ Marlins starting pitcher Caleb Smith, one of 18 players who tested positive for COVID-19 and is working out at the team’s alternate training site in Jupiter, said during an in-game interview with Fox Sports Florida that he is up to throwing about 45 pitches.
“We’ve been down for I don’t know how long it’s been. We were in quarantine. We weren’t allowed to workout,” Smith said on the broadcast. “We’re just trying to get after it.”
▪ Anderson’s on-base streak to start the season ended at 17 games after he went 0 for 4 with a strikeout on Wednesday.
This story was originally published August 19, 2020 at 10:24 PM.
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