Marlins offense fails to get key hit, spoils Trevor Rogers’ start in loss to Red Sox
Trevor Rogers did his job. The Miami Marlins’ rookie left-handed pitcher held a potent Boston Red Sox lineup to just two runs over six innings, maneuvering himself out of a few jams at Fenway Park on Saturday to limit the damage.
His offense did nothing to support him until the final inning, and the Marlins lost 3-1. The Marlins are 24-28, have lost four of their past five games. The Red Sox are 32-20.
The Marlins went 2 for 12 with six strikeouts with runners in scoring position and stranded a dozen runners.
The Marlins broke up the shutout in the ninth when Jesus Aguilar scored Magneuris Sierra from second with one out only for Garrett Cooper to ground into a game-ending double play. Sierra tied a career-high with three hits on Saturday.
Miami had its chances before the ninth to get on the scoreboard. None was probably bigger than their opportunity in the seventh. The Marlins loaded the bases with one out on a Jose Devers double (his first career extra-base hit), Sierra infield single and Starling Marte walk. A ball landing anywhere in the outfield — a reasonable possibility with Aguilar and Garrett Cooper as the next two due up to bat — likely would have at least tied the game.
But Aguilar and Cooper both struck out swinging against Adam Ottavino to strand all three runners and send many of the announced crowd of 25,089 at Fenway Park into a frenzy.
Aguilar’s strikeout came at the end of a nine-pitch at-bat, one in which he fouled off three consecutive pitches low in the zone with a 1-2 count and took a pair of balls immediately afterward to work a full count only to strike out swinging on a low 82.4 mph slider. Cooper went ahead in the count 1-0 before taking a called strike on the edge and whiffing on the next two offerings.
Other missed chances from the Marlins on Saturday:
▪ Marte hit a one-out double to left in the first for the second consecutive game only to be stranded. Aguilar and Cooper struck out in consecutive at-bats, just like they would do six innings later.
▪ Sierra hit a two-out single and Marte walked in the third but Aguilar lined out to Rafael Devers to end the threat.
▪ Cooper and Jon Berti were on first and second with one out in the fourth, but Isan Diaz popped out and Sandy Leon grounded out to strand them.
▪ Cooper and Corey Dickerson hit back-to-back one-out singles in the sixth only for Berti to strike out swinging and Diaz to fly out to right.
▪ Diaz walked with two outs in the eighth and Jorge Alfaro followed with a single to put two on base. Jose Devers struck out to end the frame.
▪ And then Sierra led off the ninth with a single and stole second with one out but they only scratched across the one run.
“We gave ourselves some chances,” Marlins manager Don Mattingly said, “and felt like for the most part you had the right guys out there. ... Just weren’t able to get those big hits.”
Rogers allowed nine hits against a Boston lineup that entered Saturday leading Major League Baseball in runs scored and extra-base hits, among other offensive categories.
But only twice did he allow traffic on the basepaths to haunt him.
The first came in the second when he gave up three consecutive singles with one out, the final of which from Bobby Dalbec scored Rafael Devers from second. Rogers struck out Kevin Plawecki for the second out and got out of the inning when Dickerson threw out Hunter Renfroe trying to go from second to home on a shallow single to left from Christian Arroyo.
The second came in the fourth when Plawecki’s groundball single to center field scored Renfroe, who doubled two at-bats earlier.
Boston added a third run in the eighth against Adam Cimber when Renfroe drove in Rafael Devers with a two-out single.
Through 11 starts this year, Rogers has a 1.87 ERA with 76 strikeouts against 22 walks. He has six quality starts, defined as throwing at least six innings while giving up no more than three earned runs.
Saturday was another one, although it was wasted as the offense couldn’t get the key hits it needed.
This and that
▪ Cooper recorded two hits, his 11th multi-hit game of the season. Cooper has reached base in 15 consecutive games dating back to May 12. He is hitting .432 (19 for 44) in that span with eight extra-base hits, 11 RBI, seven walks and nine runs scored.
▪ Outfielder Adam Duvall (left side soreness) sat out his second consecutive game. Middle infielder Jazz Chisholm Jr. (right ankle soreness) sat out his third consecutive game.
This story was originally published May 29, 2021 at 7:43 PM.
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