Late Miami Marlins rally falls short. Takeaways from the loss to the Colorado Rockies
%20(1).JPG "Miami Marlins’ Lewis Brinson breaks from the batter’s box after connecting for a single off Colorado Rockies starting pitcher Austin Gomber during the fourth inning of a baseball game Saturday, Aug. 7, 2021, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)")
The Miami Marlins once again dug themselves too deep of a hole that a late-inning rally couldn’t fix.
They dropped their second consecutive game against the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field, this time a 7-4 loss on Saturday, despite getting the tying run to the plate in both the seventh and eighth innings.
Miami falls to 47-64 on the season. Colorado is 50-61.
Here are five takeaways from the loss.
The Marlins continue to show a never-say-die mentality but slow offensive starts make it difficult.
According to outfielder Lewis Brinson, Marlins acting manager James Rowson’s message in the dugout as the game entered the final three innings was simple.
“It’s not over yet.”
It felt like it was with the Marlins down seven runs and failing to string together hits over the first six innings.
But with nine outs left and the Rockies turning to their bullpen after a strong start from Austin Gomber (five hits allowed, career-high nine strikeouts), the Marlins didn’t lay down.
And they nearly came all the way in the span of one inning.
The Marlins scored four runs on four hits and a walk in the seventh inning against Tyler Kinley to cut the deficit to three run and ultimately brought the game-tying run to the plate.
Brinson began the rally attempt with a double to right center and scored on an Alex Jackson single. They loaded the bases with two outs on a Miguel Rojas single and Jesus Aguilar walk before Brian Anderson hit a fly ball to right that barely stayed fair to drive in two more and chase Kinley.
Jorge Alfaro sent the first pitch from new reliever Robert Stephenson to left-center for an RBI double before Stephenson struck out Jazz Chisholm Jr. to end the inning.
“It just shows you what you can do. It shows you what you’re capable of,” Rowson said of the seventh inning.
But the seventh inning was the outlier of the night. Remove the seventh inning, and Miami went 0 for 7 with runners in scoring position on Saturday.
Jesus Luzardo still has a lot of development ahead of him.
The numbers weren’t pretty by any stretch of the imagination. Luzardo, a Parkland Stoneman Douglas High alumnus making his second start with his hometown team, was charged with seven earned runs on seven hits and four walks while striking out two over 4 2/3 innings.
“I made some pitches in certain spots,” Luzardo said, “but when it came down to crunch time, I didn’t.”
After holding the Rockies to one run through the first three innings, Luzardo gave up three runs apiece in the fourth and fifth.
There were some unlucky hits against him — like Charlie Blackmon’s broken-bat infield single int he fourth and a Connor Joe single through the right side that slipped under Jesus Aguilar’s glove and into right field later in the inning — but Luzardo was quick to say he’s not making excuses.
“I’m a little tough on myself,” Luzardo said. “I have high expectations for myself. I can’t let, whether it’s a bloop hit or whatever it is get to me and let it spiral out of control. I need to be able to stop the bleeding right away.”
There were some bright spots from his outing. Luzardo’s curveball in particular was impressive. Rockies batters swung and missed seven times on the pitch and Luzardo recorded a 39 percent called strike plus whiff rate with the curveball on the night.
Lewis Brinson is heating up.
Since his latest callup on July 19, Brinson is hitting .298 (14 for 47) with two home runs, six doubles and seven runs scored over 16 games (11 starts).
He had three hits on Saturday — his third multi-hit outing over the last six games — and reached base safely all four times he stepped into the batter’s box. His batting average is up to .252 on the season.
“I trust myself,” Brinson said. “I’m confident now, more than I’ve ever been. It’s starting to show on the field.”
Jorge Alfaro appears to be just fine in left field.
Alfaro made his first highlight play as a left fielder on Saturday.
With a runner on first base in the bottom of the seventh, the Rockies’ Elias Diaz ripped a ground ball down the third-base line and into the corner in left field. Alfaro hustled from left-center to pick up the ball and started threw a perfect strike to third baseman Brian Anderson, who then completed the relay to Jackson at home plate to tag out C.J. Cron.
According to Statcast, Alfaro’s throw was 89 mph and traveled 197 feet to Anderson.
Anderson completed the exchange in 0.7 seconds and got the ball to Jackson with plenty of time to apply the tag.
“That’s about as good of a throw that you see coming in,” Rowson said, “and then Andy finishes it with another great throw. I mean, you’re talking about two great throws. ... Couldn’t draw it up any better.”
Can the Marlins avoid the sweep?
The series concludes at 3:10 p.m. Sunday before the Marlins face the San Diego Padres at Petco Park for three games to complete their final West Coast trip of the season.
The Marlins have been swept in six series this season that have been at least games.
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