Marlins drop eighth consecutive game. This time, it’s a ‘frustrating’ extra-inning walk-off
The ball slipped out of Anthony Bender’s grasp, and the Miami Marlins’ chance to end a seven-game losing streak began to crumble.
They were two innings away from a feeling of euphoria, one that has been lacking this entire three-city road trip.
Instead, it was the same old story once again.
An eighth-inning pitching collapse capped with a costly fielding error from Bender doomed the Marlins as the Pittsburgh Pirates rallied for four runs with two outs and capped the game with a Jacob Stallings walk-off single up the middle against Adam Cimber to win 8-7 in 12 innings at PNC Park.
Adam Frazier, the Pirates’ automatic runner at second to start the inning, reached third on a Ke’Bryan Hayes flyout before scoring the decisive run.
“Pretty frustrated over this one,” Marlins manager Don Mattingly said. “Self-inflicted wounds.”
Probably the perfect way to describe the start of the collapse.
Miami (24-33) had a three-run lead entering the bottom of the eighth when Pittsburgh’s rally began.
Anthony Bass loaded the bases on a lead-off double, walk and two out single before giving way to Bender, a rookie who has top-end stuff but has not pitched in particularly high-leverage situations since making his MLB debut.
“Bender had been doing really good,” Mattingly said of the 26-year-old righty who had a 0.00 ERA and had given up just one unearned run in his first 12 appearances heading into Saturday. “Anthony’s been throwing some pitches. Thought that was the best matchup right there, a guy that everyone’s kind of calling for to be a back-end guy. We thought that was a good spot for him. He’s got probably the best stuff out there.”
Bender walked Kevin Newman on six pitches to force in the first run. He then hit Ka’ai Tom with a pitch to force in the second.
The dagger: Bender failing to catch a toss from Jesus Aguilar on a weak ground ball from pinch-hitter Michael Perez while covering first base. Two more Pirates runners scored.
“It’s a pretty vanilla play, honestly,” said Mattingly, the lone Marlins representative made available postgame Saturday. “Just one of those that happens that seems like when things are going fast. I can’t say it was a tough play. ... It’s frustrating when you don’t make that play.”
Miami tied the game in the top of the ninth with Jesus Aguilar’s RBI single — his fourth hit of the game — to force extra innings. The teams exchanged runs in the 10th before the Pirates clinched the win against in the 12th.
The Marlins’ chance at a win was officially gone. Their losing streak, and their “nightmare” of a road trip as Mattingly put it, continued.
The slide that started with their last home game against the Philadelphia Phillies on May 27 and had continued ever since.
They lost both of their games played against the Boston Red Sox (the final game of that series was postponed due to weather and will be made up at Fenway Park on Monday).
They lost both of their games against the Toronto Blue Jays at Buffalo’s Sahlen Field, with the second coming on a walk-off.
And now they dropped the first three games of this four-game series with the Pirates (23-34).
“You can’t let four, five, six bad games affect the next 20,” Mattingly said postgame Friday. “You’ve got to be able to separate that out, push it behind you, and go forward. That sounds simple. It’s not that easy. Like anything else, hitting’s contagious. Wins are contagious. Good things are happening to your club, you expect good things to happen. And when it’s going the other way, just don’t have that good feeling, you’ve got to push for it, you’ve got to fight through it.”
The Marlins did that for the first seven innings.
Home runs from Aguilar, Jazz Chisholm Jr. and Jorge Alfaro paced the offense.
Aguilar’s production at the plate — a career-high four hits — was particularly noteworthy.
Aguilar was hitting just .138 over his last 19 games heading into Saturday, going 9 for 65 with two extra-base hits (one double, one home run), eight RBI, two runs scored and 16 strikeouts against just one walk. His batting average dropped 57 points in that span, from .303 to a season-low .246.
On several occasions during that stretch, the normally upbeat and jovial Aguilar was seen slamming his helmet or bat into the ground after a missed opportunity.
Trevor Rogers, the National League’s Rookie of the Month for a second consecutive time, threw yet another quality start, holding the Pirates to two runs on four hits and two walks while striking out five in six innings of work. Rogers threw 94 pitches, 58 of which went for strikes.
After giving his lone two runs of the game on a two-out Frazier single in the second, Rogers retired 13 of the final 14 batters he faced, four via strikeout, as the offense put together a lead.
In 12 starts this year, Rogers has a 1.97 ERA with 81 strikeouts against 24 walks in 68 2/3 innings of work as he continues his early run toward making a case for NL Rookie of the Year.
“He’s a man on a mission,” Marlins pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre Jr. said pregame Saturday.
But the bullpen, for the third time in the last four days, coughed up a lead.
The losing streak continues.
▪ Mattingly said first baseman/right fielder Garrett Cooper had back stiffness after Friday’s loss to the Pirates, which is why he wasn’t in the lineup and was not used as a pinch-hitter on Saturday.
This story was originally published June 5, 2021 at 8:28 PM.
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