Miguel Rojas sparks Miami Marlins rally to beat Atlanta Braves in extra innings
.JPG "Miami Marlins’ Migual Rojas connects for a go-ahead one-run double to center field during the 10th inning of a baseball game against the Atlanta Braves, Monday, Sept. 7, 2020, in Atlanta.")
The Miami Marlins had already rallied three times on Monday against the top team in the National League East. Miguel Rojas had a heavy hand in two of those three rallies.
Why not do it one more time in extra innings?
Rojas’ fourth hit of the day, a double to right-center in the 10th past the extended glove of Ronald Acuna Jr., lifted the Marlins to a 5-4 road win over the Atlanta Braves to start a three-game series at Truist Park.
The win lifts Miami back to a .500 record at 18-18 on the season and at the very least ensures they will be tied for the second National League wild card spot when the day ends. The Braves are 24-17.
“This game today was important for us because we’re playing a team in the same division and were getting good at-bats,” Rojas said. “This is what we do in this organization. ... We came back and we scored.”
Rojas’ double scored Garrett Cooper, who started the inning on second base as part of the league’s new extra-inning rules for the 2020 season. Jon Berti opened the inning by bunting Cooper to third before the Braves intentionally walked Brian Anderson, who was pinch-hitting for Jazz Chisholm.
Nick Vincent tossed a scoreless bottom half of the inning to close out the win and earn the save.
Adam Duvall tied the game with a solo home run to lead off the ninth to send the game to extra innings. Kintzler has now blown saves in consecutive games after converting each of his first nine opportunities to start the season.
Before that, the Marlins scored four runs over the second, third and fourth innings - all with two outs, to take a lead they would carry into that ninth inning.
The Marlins entered Monday with a .263 batting average with two outs, the fourth-best mark in MLB behind the Chicago White Sox (.281), San Diego Padres (.275) and Boston Red Sox (.270).
The Marlins have scored 77 of their 152 runs, or just shy of half, this season with two outs.
That trend continued Monday. Miami climbed out of its early deficits — first 2-0 after the first and 3-1 after the second — with clutch hits when it was down to its final out in innings. Seven of the Marlins’ nine hits, three of their seven walks and all four runs scored before extra innings came with two outs.
Rojas was involved in two of those three rallies in addition to driving in the game-winning run in the 10th.
He hit an RBI double down the third-base line in the second that scored Jazz Chisholm, who reached second one at-bat earlier when Braves starting pitcher Ian Anderson sailed a throw past Freddie Freeman.
Two innings later, Rojas started the fourth with a single, stole second and reached third on a Jorge Alfaro groundout. Rojas held at third on Corey Dickerson’s groundout before Starling Marte laced a Robbie Eflin curveball down the third-base line and watched it skip past the third base bag and into left field to score Rojas and tie the game. Marte scampered around the basepaths one at-bat later when Jesus Aguilar drove him home on an RBI single.
“Miggy’s been like this the past couple years,” Marlins manager Don Mattingly said. “Just growing and growing. ... We got a lot of big hits in that game, a lot of two-out stuff. They had us on the ropes early. You felt like you were on the ropes in every inning for a while and then we kind of settled down.”
Berti, starting at third base for Anderson and exiting the game midway through the 10th with an index finger contusion, added a two-out RBI single in the third that scored Aguilar.
Jose Urena, making his first start of the season after being part of the team’s COVID-19 outbreak at the start of the year, held the Braves to three runs on four hits and three walks over five innings. He struck out two and closed his time on the mound with three scoreless innings although he almost caused a potential fracas in the fourth when he hit Braves outfielder Ronald Acuna Jr. with a high 95 mph sinker.
Josh A. Smith worked 1 2/3 innings and James Hoyt struck out Marcell Ozuna with the bases loaded to end the seventh. Brad Boxberger handled a scoreless eighth before Kintzler gave up the game-tying run and forced extra innings.
▪ The Marlins moved outfielder Harold Ramirez to the 60-day IL and optioned infielder Eddy Alvarez to make room for Urena on the active roster. The team also put left-handed pitcher Brandon Liebrandt on the 10-day IL with left elbow ulnar neuritis and recalled outfielder Monte Harrison.
▪ With Berti unavailable to play defense in the bottom half of the 10th and with Chisholm unavailable after being pinch-hit for earlier in the inning, Mattingly played an infield of Lewin Diaz at first base, Anderson at second, Rojas at shortstop and Aguilar at third base for the final inning.
This story was originally published September 7, 2020 at 5:04 PM.
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