Marlins cap wild finish with walk-off wild pitch to beat Pirates in extra innings
Pablo Lopez, even while inefficient at times, did his job Wednesday. The Miami Marlins’ right-handed pitcher had a no-hitter through four innings and ultimately allowed just one hit and one run over five innings against the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Dylan Floro, Anthony Bass and Steven Okert did their job, combining for three shutout innings to keep Pittsburgh’s run total to just one late in the game to put Miami in a position to rally.
Avsail Garcia did his job in the eighth inning with a two-out, bases-loaded, two-run single to give the Marlins a lead going into the ninth inning.
And in the 10th, Jesus Aguilar did his job, driving in the game-tying run and scoring on a wild pitch with two outs to cap a wild, 5-4 walk-off win over the Pirates to win their first game of the series after dropping the first two of the four-game set. Miami improves to 42-45 on the season while Pittsburgh drops to 38-51. The series finale is Thursday at 12:10 p.m.
“At the end of the day it was a win, which was something we need,” Marlins manager Don Mattingly said. “Let’s go get [another] one tomorrow and move on.”
But it took a while to get to that win.
And a crazy 10th capped the nearly three-and-a-half-hour affair.
After the Pirates tied the game in the top of the ninth and scored two runs in the top of the 10th, Miami clawed back with three runs in the bottom of the 10th on three singles, an intentional walk and the wild pitch from Pirates reliever David Bednar on the first pitch of Jesus Sanchez’s plate appearance for their fourth walk-off victory of the season — and sixth win in franchise history that ended on a walk-off wild pitch.
Miguel Rojas began the frame with a leadoff single in the bottom of the 10th to move Bryan De La Cruz to third base but De La Cruz was tagged out trying to score on a Billy Hamilton bunt attempt.
According to Mattingly, Hamilton was bunting for a hit, not to drive in a run. De La Cruz was not supposed to break from third on that play.
“Not quite sure what De La was thinking,” Mattingly said. “I know [third base coach Al Pedrique] basically told him we’re not going anywhere. There’s no reason to go anywhere.”
A Jon Berti RBI single down the first-base line cut Miami’s deficit to one and Aguilar’s single the next at-bat tied the game. The Pirates intentionally walked Luke Williams to load the bases and Brian Anderson hit into force out before Bednar’s first pitch to Sanchez sailed into foul territory to the right side of home plate. Aguilar scored from third standing up.
“I heard a couple voices saying ‘Go, go, go,’” Aguilar said. “So I just started running.”
Prior to extra innings, though, it was Garcia’s hit that, at least temporarily, served as a needed breakthrough moment for the Marlins after the offense has been nearly non-existent each of the first two games of the series. The Marlins tallied just 10 total hits on Monday and Tuesday and scored just three runs.
On Wednesday, Pirates starter JT Brubaker threw seven shutout innings with nine strikeouts.
But then the Marlins took advantage against Pittsburgh’s bullpen in the eighth.
They had the bases loaded with two outs against Duane Underwood after he hit Joey Wendle with a pitch, walked Berti and hit Aguilar. Garcia, who hit a double earlier in the game, then lofted a cutter into shallow center field to bring in two runs and give Miami its first lead of the series.
“I was just looking for a strike,” Garcia said. “I’ve been chasing too much. So I’m just trying to look for strikes and not do too much. ... Just trying to stay there and see the ball.”
That first lead lasted just three batters into the ninth inning. The Pirates tied the game at 2-2 when Michael Chavis’ double to left field against Tanner Scott scored Daniel Vogelbach from second base.
“My slider was terrible,” said Scott, who has pitched in eight of Miami’s 13 games so far in July and recorded five saves and blown three. “I was just missing up. ... It’s not what you want, especially when we scored two runs. I got handed the ball to finish the game and you never want to see extra innings getting put in that spot. It’s a bad feeling.”
Scott walked Vogelbach and Ke’Bryan Hayes to start the inning. Scott settled in after that, getting Oneil Cruz to pop out, striking out Ben Gamel and getting Jack Suwinski to fly out to right field.
The Pirates scored two runs in the top of the 10th after loading the bases on back-to-back infield singles against Zach Pop and then scoring on a one-out Vogelbach groundout and two-out Hayes single.
But Miami responded with its three runs in the bottom half of the frame for the win.
Pablo Lopez’s outing
Despite only allowing one run, Lopez’s command was shaky. Of his 83 pitches thrown on Wednesday, just 49 landed for strikes — a 59-percent strike rate that places among the worst in his MLB career. His four walks tied a season high and were one shy of his career high.
Despite that, Lopez had a no-hitter intact through four innings before giving up his only hit and only run in the fifth inning. Lopez issued a leadoff walk to Cruz, who promptly stole second base. Gamel then hit an RBI single through the right side that scored Cruz to put the Pirates on the board.
“That’s one of the things as a starter,” Lopez said. “There are a lot of days where you’re not going to have your A game or your best stuff, but you still have to find a way to put up zeroes and limit the damage. Even though a lot of things were not feeling good today, I think Jacob [Stallings] and I did a good job of just making pitches when we needed to.”
Latest on Garrett Cooper
Marlins first baseman/designated hitter Garrett Cooper was held out of the lineup Wednesday after fouling a pitch off his left knee in the sixth inning of Tuesday’s 3-2 loss to the Pirates.
Cooper was diagnosed with a contusion on the inside of the knee, but X-rays taken after he was removed from the game were negative.
“The fact that the X-rays are negative is a positive,” Marlins manager Don Mattingly said pregame, “but he’s pretty sore. He was having trouble moving. He was still in the training room when I came out. We’ll try to get him moving around.”
Rehab assignment updates
▪ Outfielder Jorge Soler (bilateral pelvis inflammation) hit two home runs and scored three runs overall on Wednesday while playing with the Double A Pensacola Blue Wahoos. Wednesday was Soler’s second rehab assignment game since going on the IL July 1. He went 1 for 4 on Tuesday as Pensacola’s designated hitter.
▪ Right-handed pitcher Cody Poteet (elbow) threw three shutout innings with four strikeouts and just two hits allowed for the Triple A Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp on Tuesday. Poteet has yet to allow a run over 6 1/3 innings pitched spanning three rehab assignment games, one with the Single A Jupiter Hammerheads and two with Jacksonville.
This story was originally published July 13, 2022 at 10:05 PM.
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