The timely hitting that got the Marlins to the playoffs has been scarce in the playoffs

The Miami Marlins’ ability to hit well with runners in scoring position helped fuel their push to the postseason.

But with the exception of a handful of innings in their first four playoff games, Marlins hitters haven’t been clutch nearly as often.

Miami hit .273 with runners in scoring position in 479 such at-bats driving in 183 runs and hitting 15 home runs during the regular season.

But so far in these playoffs, the Marlins have gone only 5 for 30 (.167) in those situations with one home run and eight RBI.

And they’ve left 27 runners on base.

The Marlins’ deficiencies in that department kept them from backing up a solid start from Pablo Lopez, who gave up two runs and three hits (two home runs) over five innings while striking out seven without a walk.

The Marlins went 0 for 4 in Game 2 and are 3 for 11 with runners in scoring position in the first two games against the Braves and have stranded 13 runners combined in Games 1 and 2 of the NLDS.

Although the Braves went 0-for-3 with runners in scoring position in their 2-0 win in Game 2, they went 3 for 8 during their 9-5 victory in Game 1.

“We had a few chances we just couldn’t get anything across,” Marlins manager Don Mattingly said. “It feels like we never hit any balls hard the whole game.”

For perspective, the Braves hit .270 with runners in scoring position although they slugged much better totaling 25 home runs and 222 RBI in 556 at-bats.

The Marlins were also clutch in the regular season hitting with two outs and RISP (.256, 9 HR, 90 RBI in 242 at-bats) much like the Braves were (.264, 9 HRs, 89 RBI in 258 at-bats).

Against the Cubs in the Wild Card Series last week, the Marlins scored all seven of their runs in the seventh inning of each game. They went a combined 2 for 19 with runners in scoring position stranding a combined 14 runners.

Miami’s best chance to crack the scoreboard Wednesday came in the sixth inning.

Jon Berti singled with one out and two batters later, Brian Anderson and Garrett Cooper drew walks to load the bases with two outs against right-hander Darren O’Day.

This created what appeared to be a potentially-unfavorable matchup for O’Day against Matt Joyce, a career .253 hitter against righties compared to .187 vs. lefties.

Joyce swung at a first-pitch slider and grounded out harmlessly to Freddie Freeman at first base.

Then in the eighth after Corey Dickerson reached on an error by Dansby Swanson, Berti hit a fly ball off Will Smith to right field that Nick Markakis let land in front of him. Markakis then threw out Dickerson at second after he was caught hesitating in order to see if the ball would drop.

“Corey is in a tough spot right there,” Mattingly said. “It’s a tough read in a tough situation.”

The Marlins will enter Thursday’s Game 3 on the brink of elimination against a Braves’ squad that has kept opponents scoreless in 37 of the 40 innings they’ve pitched so far in the playoffs.

The Marlins have scored in only five of 36 playoff innings.

Being without starting center fielder Starling Marte since Game 1 of the Wild Card Series hasn’t helped matters.

Marte hit .263 with 18 RBI this season in 63 plate appearances with runners in scoring position is a career .293 hitter in those situations.

“It’s just sticking to our approach and keeping an aggressive mindset with runners in scoring position,” Berti said. “Not try to do too much but stay on the attack. When we do that we have a lot more success than not.”

This story was originally published October 7, 2020 at 6:35 PM.