Miami Marlins score 8 in first inning, romp to 12-2 victory against Yankees

As a Marlin, Nathan Eovaldi was seldom remarkable.

As a Yankee on Tuesday, Eovaldi was remarkably bad.

The Marlins humbled their former pitcher with a first-inning outburst like none other in team history, erupting for eight runs on nine hits en route to a 12-2 victory and sweep of the two-game series.

It was biggest first inning in Marlins franchise history.

“It was fun,” said Dee Gordon, who had one of the three outs and one of the nine hits in the first inning.

And it came at the expense of a pitcher they traded to the Yankees in December after determining that, despite a blazing fastball, Eovaldi’s pitches did not miss enough bats.

That proved the case Tuesday when the Marlins strung together seven consecutive hits in a wild opening salvo that muted the large legion of Yankee fans on hand to see their beloved Bronx Bombers at Marlins Park.

In a matchup of hurlers pitching against their former teams, the Marlins’ David Phelps came out a landslide winner, stifling the Yankees over seven innings as he posted his second straight strong start. He gave up two runs on only six hits -- or three fewer than the Marlins tallied in the first inning alone.

“To put up an 8-spot early, he could be little more free with how he attacked that lineup,” manager Dan Jennings said of Phelps.

Phelps was included with Martin Prado in the offseason deal that sent Eovaldi and Garrett Jones to New York. Eovaldi dropped his head when Yankees manager Joe Girardi came out of the dugout to lift him with two outs in the first, his gray jersey so soaked in perspiration that it was a darker shade than his pants.

If ever a pitcher needed a shower, it was Eovaldi.

It was that kind of night for the Yankees.

Not only did the Marlins deliver the knockout punch in the first round, but kept pounding away.

In the fifth inning, Giancarlo Stanton walloped a three-run homer off the facing of the second deck in right. It was his major-league-leading 24th home run and raised his RBI total to 62, nine more than the next player on the list.

“The game was out of hand already, so it was icing on the cake,” Stanton said.

Said Jennings: “There’s only a few guys in this game who have the ability to go opposite field, upper tank, like that.”

Stanton is closing in on the team record for most home runs before the All-Star break, which belongs to Mike Lowell with 28 in 2003. Lowell’s pre-break RBI mark of 76 is also being challenged by Stanton. The Marlins have 23 more games scheduled before the All-Star break, which begins on July 13.

But it was the first inning that did in the Yankees.

It began harmlessly enough when Eovaldi retired Dee Gordon on a routine ground ball. Then the roof collapsed.

Derek Dietrich, Monday’s hero for the Marlins, singled. Christian Yelich and Stanton followed with infield hits, loading the bases for Marcell Ozuna, who drove in the first two runs with a single.

Next up was Justin Bour, who made it 3-0 with his RBI single.

J.T. Realmuto increased the lead to 4-0 with another RBI single, and Adeiny Hechavarria tripled off the wall in left to drive in two more runs.

After Phelps grounded out, Gordon singled in a run. When Dietrich doubled in another for his second hit of the inning, Eovaldi was done. With the loss, his career record at Marlins Park fell to 6-15.

Stanton said the Marlins’ familiarity with Eovaldi had “zero” effect with how they were able to hit him early and often.

“We know what he has, but I don’t think it was a factor in how it went down,” Stanton said.

It was the first time in Marlins history that all eight position players had hits in the same inning. The seven consecutive hits missed the team record by one. The Marlins had eight consecutive hits on May 15, 1998.

The 11 runs were the most scored this season by the Marlins.

The Marlins and Yankees aren’t done with each other. The two teams head up to New York for a two-game series at Yankee Stadium that begins Wednesday.

This story was originally published June 16, 2015 at 11:04 PM with the headline "Miami Marlins score 8 in first inning, romp to 12-2 victory against Yankees."