Big hit from Starling Marte sets up Miami Marlins’ walkoff win over Phillies
With the bases loaded, two outs and the Marlins running out of opportunities Thursday, Starling Marte turned on a cutter from Philadelphia Phillies reliever Brandon Workman in the eighth inning and sent it toward right field. Bryce Harper’s only play was off the wall.
Garrett Cooper, Jazz Chisholm and Corey Dickerson hustled around the basepaths. Dickerson clapped his hands as he crossed home plate, serving as the game-tying run.
The Marlins finally broke through after seven innings of squandering chances as they tried to make up for a shaky outing from their ace and a pair of defensive miscues.
And it set up Jorge Alfaro to hit a two-out walk-off single against his former team and lift the Marlins to a 7-6 win over the Phillies to begin a critical five-day, seven-game series that most likely will have postseason implications.
Alfaro drove in Monte Harrison, who was pinch-running for Brian Anderson. Harrison reached second on a Cooper groundout and stole third before scoring.
“Any time it looks like we’re going to fade, they kind of show up and put a W on the board and keep it going,” Marlins manager Don Mattingly said. “I didn’t have any doubt about our guys today. ... I knew these guys would be ready to play.”
Marte went 3 for 4 on Thursday with two doubles and four RBI.
Miami (20-19) are now just a half game behind the Phillies (21-19) for second place in the NL East. Both teams are trailing the Atlanta Braves, who improved to 26-18 with a 7-6 win Thursday over the Washington Nationals.
Missed chances early
Before Marte’s big hit, the Marlins were 1-for-11 with runners in scoring position on Thursday and had left eight runners on base.
The missed chances began in the bottom of the first. Dickerson walked on four pitches and then scored on a Marte double to erase an early 1-0 deficit. Jesus Aguilar followed with another four-pitch walk to give Miami runners on first and second with no outs.
What followed? Two strikeouts and a lineout.
In the third, with the Marlins down 3-1, Miami had Dickerson on third and Marte at second with one out. They managed to score one run on a Matt Joyce sacrifice fly before Anderson grounded out to shortstop Didi Gregorious to end the inning.
In the fifth, they had Cooper on third and Miguel Rojas on second with no outs. A Chisholm popout, Alfaro RBI groundout and Dickerson groundout followed. One run scored on three opportunities.
And in the sixth, they had runners on the corners via a Chisholm walk and Alfaro single. Phillies reliever Jojo Romero got Dickerson to ground out.
And then, in the eighth, the Marlins finally broke through. Cooper led off with a walk, Chisholm hit a one-out single and Dickerson hit a two-out single to load the bases for Marte’s game-tying hit and eventually Alfaro’s ninth-inning heroics.
“It’s not a secret, we have a lot of young guys with a lot of talent,” Alfaro said. “We never get down. We’re always going to be fighting for every game. Right now, we’re playing like a family. You can see in the clubhouse, and in the dugout, everywhere. We’re going to be fighting. No matter what. No matter the score.”
Alcantara, defense shaky
That’s not to say the Marlins’ offense was the only problem early in Thursday’s game.
Sandy Alcantara had a pedestrian start and dealt with some shaky defense behind him.
Alcantara, in his third game since returning from COVID-19, gave up six runs (three earned) on seven hits and two walks while striking out four in six innings of work.
Two of those runs scored because of consecutive defensive miscues in the second inning. First baseman Jesus Aguilar couldn’t properly field a groundball that allowed Andrew Knapp to reach base. One batter later, Phillies rookie third baseman Alec Bohm lined a single to shallow center field that bounced under Marte’s glove and rolled to the wall. Knapp scored from first and Bohm made it to third base. Adam Haseley drove Bohm in with a single to left.
Philadelphia added two more runs in the fourth before catcher and former Marlin J.T. Realmuto capped scoring with a 402-foot solo home run to right field.
This story was originally published September 10, 2020 at 10:08 PM.
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