Miami Marlins rally thwarted in extra innings walk-off loss to Giants on Opening Day
.JPG "San Francisco Giants’ Darin Ruf scores at home plate as Miami Marlins catcher Payton Henry looks on in the 10th inning of a baseball game Friday, April 8, 2022, in San Francisco. Ruf scored after the Giants’ Austin Slater doubled to left field. San Francisco won the game 6-5.")
Miguel Rojas slammed his helmet on the ground after swinging through a low slider from Brandon Webb for an inning-ending strikeout to strand a Miami Marlins runner in scoring position.
Sandy Alcantara could only watch as Joey Bart took advantage of a mistake pitch that went into the left-field seats at Oracle Park for a fifth-inning home run.
Garrett Cooper simply put his head in the air and made the slow walk back to the dugout twice — first after being called out on strikes to cut short the Marlins’ seventh-inning rally attempt and again after getting caught in a rundown between third base and home in extra innings.
Anthony Bender tried to remain stoic when he gave up a game-tying home run in the ninth after Miami finally found success and got its first lead a half inning earlier.
And Anthony Bass could only sink his head as he stood behind home plate as Darin Ruf scored on Austin Slater’s double to left field to seal Miami’s 6-5 walk-off, 10-inning loss to the San Francisco Giants on Friday.
It was a somber end to a game that was frustrating early for a Marlins team that entered the season with high expectations internally but at points turned in the Marlins’ favor late.
Catcher Jacob Stallings hit a two-run homer in the seventh and added a third RBI with a single in the ninth. Jazz Chisholm Jr. then added a go-ahead two-run homer in the ninth to temporarily give the Marlins (0-1) a 5-4 lead.
That lead didn’t last past the first batter in the bottom of the ninth, with Thairo Estrada hitting a middle-middle slider from Bender a projected 418 feet to left-center for a game-tying home run to force extra innings.
“He beat me to the spot,” Bender said, “and got all of it.”
Miami came up empty in the top of the 10th despite having runners on the corners and one out. Cooper, on third base, hesitated on an Avisail Garcia ground ball to third base and was caught in a rundown for the second out. Brian Anderson struck out on three pitches the next at-bat.
And then with two outs in the bottom of the 10th, Slater ripped a Bass sinker off the outer part of the plate to left field with Miami’s outfielders shifted to the right. Ruf, who walked one plate appearance earlier, rounded the bases and headed toward home. Rojas made a relay throw from Jorge Soler in left field to Payton Henry behind the plate. Ruf beat the throw, which bounced out of Henry’s glove as he tried to apply the tag, to end the game.
“Not one of those you want to lose,” Marlins manager Don Mattingly said.
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And while the Marlins rallied late, there were troubles early.
Alcantara gave up three runs (two earned) over five innings in a spotty debut.
The Marlins’ ace, just the third pitcher in franchise history to start three consecutive Opening Days, walked five batters and only landed 44 of his 83 pitches for strikes.
“I don’t feel good today,” Alcantara said. “Five walks, I don’t like that.”
He needed 23 pitches to get out of the first inning after giving up back-to-back two-out walks before Stallings made a solid throw to Rojas to pick off Ruf at second base — the first of two runners that Stallings threw out on Friday.
“Having Stallings behind the plate was great today,” Alcantara said. “He’s got a great arm. Called great pitches. He tried to help me every way he can.”
The real damage came in the third, when the Giants (1-0) tagged Alcantara for two runs, both coming with two outs.
With Bart on first base after a walk, Brandon Belt dropped a bunt with Miami’s infield in the shift. Joey Wendle charged to the ball but his throw sailed wide of Cooper at first base, the first of two errors from Wendle. Bart scored on the play. Ruf then added an RBI single through the right side, the ball getting past a diving Cooper to roll into the outfield.
The final blow against Alcantara came with Bart’s no-doubt home run in the fifth to put the Marlins down 3-0.
“When you miss,” Alcantara said, “you’ve got to pay.”
The offense was stagnant until Giants starter Logan Webb was pulled early in the seventh. Webb held the Marlins to five hits, most of which were ground balls and none of which came with runners in scoring position.
They rallied against San Francisco’s bullpen before the Giants did the same thing against the Marlins.
Belt homered off Richard Bleier in the eighth to extend the Giants’ lead to 4-2. Estrada homered off Bender in the ninth to tie the game. And Slater’s hard-hit double in the 10th ended it.
On to Game 2.
This story was originally published April 8, 2022 at 8:07 PM.
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