Pablo Lopez pitches his worst game of the year and Marlins drop back below .500 vs. Rays
Pablo Lopez was one pitch away from escaping a bases-loaded jam Friday in St. Petersburg and one pitch away from serious trouble. The starting pitcher stared down Kevin Kiermaier with a full count, a runner on each base and the Miami Marlins clinging to a one-run lead against the Tampa Bay Rays in the bottom of the fourth inning.
Lopez, off to the best start of his career, has thrived all year in these situations. Opponents were 0 for 3 with a walk against him with the bases loaded and just 2 for 12 on full counts. Lopez went for the outside corner and Kiermaier left the bat on his shoulder. The outfielder walked to first base and the tying run jogged home. It was a borderline call and it went against the Marlins. Four pitches later, the Rays busted open a three-run lead and were headed to a 5-4 win at Tropicana Field.
“It looked pretty good from the mound, but when I’m pitching I want everything to be a strike,” Lopez said. “It could’ve changed a lot, but I didn’t get the call and I didn’t execute my pitches to the following guy.”
After the walk, Tampa Bay catcher Michael Perez worked a 2-1 count and slapped a ball out to the gap in left-center field. Outfielder Corey Dickerson was playing shallow in left and couldn’t backtrack fast enough, and the bases emptied. Miami’s 2-1 lead quickly flipped into a 5-2 deficit. Lopez finished the inning and then his worst start of the season was over after a 38-pitch fourth. The right-handed pitcher lasted just four innings — his shortest outing of the year — while allowing a season-worst five earned runs. Less than a week after getting swept by the Rays, the Marlins (16-17) lost again to Tampa Bay (27-12) and dropped below .500 for just the second time all season.
Miami quickly rallied with two runs in the fifth and then put the go-ahead run on base in the top of the ninth before Jon Berti struck out on a borderline pitch — similar to the one Kiermaier walked on — to end the game.
“It’s a tough one because they’re trying,” manager Don Mattingly said. “Some nights they go our way and other nights they go the other, but it’s just excuse-making if you’re going to complain about the umps.”
The loss, the Marlins’ sixth in eight games, also could knock Miami out of playoff position for the first time this year. The Marlins entered Friday as the No. 7 seed in the National League’s expanded eight-team postseason format, half a game ahead of the No. 8-seed Colorado Rockies, and just one game ahead of both the San Francisco Giants and Milwaukee Brewers, both of whom could pass Miami by percentage points later Friday. The Marlins also remain 4 1/2 games behind the Atlanta Braves for first place in the NL East.
Lopez (3-3) began in the same sort of groove he has spent most of the season locked into. He struck out the leadoff batter in the first inning on a 94-mph fastball, then worked around an infield single by striking out star outfielder Austin Meadows on another 94-mph fastball to end the frame. He gave up a solo home run to slugging third baseman Yoshi Tsutsugo in the second, but it was the only hit he allowed beyond the infield by the time the fourth inning began.
By then, Miami had flipped a 1-0 deficit into a 2-1 lead on solo homers by Dickerson and first baseman Jesus Aguilar, and had its best pitcher cruising. Lopez, though, quickly ran into trouble.
He gave up a leadoff single to utility infielder Joey Wendle, then he walked Meadows. He fanned Willy Adames for one of his six strikeouts, then gave up a single to first baseman Ji-Man Choi to load the bases. Lopez almost escaped after he got outfielder Manuel Margot to pop out in the infield, only he couldn’t win his seven-pitch battle with Kiermaier. Perez drove in the winning runs a batter later.
“The fourth got away from him,” Mattingly said. “He just had a rough fourth inning and just too many pitches in that inning that drug him.”
The Marlins almost answered right back in the top of the fifth when catcher Jorge Alfaro and outfielder Lewis Brinson connected for a pair of two-out singles against starting pitcher Josh Fleming, then scored when Berti launched a double to deep center field. The rally died there, though. Slugger Garrett Cooper grounded out against Fleming (2-1) and Miami faded until the ninth.
Miguel Rojas started the final frame with a walk and fellow shortstop Jazz Chisholm entered as a pinch runner. As Dickerson knocked a grounder to Adames, Chisholm charged into second and the rookie’s speed flustered the Rays shortstop, who bobbled the ball. The go-ahead run was at first base with no outs.
First, Alfaro nearly tied the game when he smoked a grounder down the third-base line, but Wendle sprawled to his right and made a diving stop while lying on third. Outfielder Matt Joyce popped up next and Miami was down to its final out with Berti at the plate.
The speedy utility man worked a full count and thought he had a walk. Instead, umpire Marty Foster turned his right and pumped his fists. Berti jerked his head back and trudged back to the dugout. The Marlins’ night was over.
This story was originally published September 4, 2020 at 9:38 PM.
