Miami Marlins losing streak hits four games as they drop series opener to Chicago Cubs
Edward Cabrera was nearly through another strong inning, one out away from having a chance to extend one of his best starts of the season for the Miami Marlins.
But then he hung a pair of curveballs over the heart of the plate, one each to Dansby Swanson and Ian Happ. Swanson lined his to left field for a two-out single. Happ launched his a projected 423 feet for a two-run home run.
It gave the Chicago Cubs enough of a cushion to hold on for a 4-1 win over the Marlins to begin a three-game series at Wrigley Field.
All of Chicago’s runs on Friday came with two outs.
“They’re a good team,” Marlins manager Skip Schumaker said. “You give extra outs to any team in the big leagues, that’s what’s gonna happen. They’ll score.”
The Marlins have now lost four consecutive games, tied for a season-high. Miami is now 16-17, falling below .500 for the first time since they were 6-7 early in the season.
The Marlins have also lost their first game this season in which their opponent scored fewer than five runs. They were a perfect 15-0 in those situations entering Friday.
The Happ home run put a damper on Cabrera’s outing. The 25-year-old righty struck out eight and gave up just three runs — two coming on the home run — on five hits, one walk and one hit by pitch.
And it came after he rebounded from a tough situation in the first inning that led to the Cubs (16-16) scoring their first run of the game.
Cabrera was facing Happ with Nico Hoerner on first base after leading off the inning with a single. Cabrera had already stepped off the mound twice during the at-bat, first on a pickoff attempt and then again when Hoerner took a large lead toward second but scampered back to first base without a throw over from Cabrera.
Under MLB’s new rules, a pitcher is only allowed to step off from the mound twice in an at-bat. If he does so a third time and does not record an out, it counts as a balk and runners advance a base.
“He caught me by surprise,” Cabrera said. “It’s something that we’re still adjusting to.”
Hoerner used that to his advantage, taking a large lead toward second base to prompt Cabrera to try another pickoff attempt. Cabrera’s throw to first base, however, was not in time. Hoerner was awarded second base, then reached third on a Jacob Stallings passed ball and scored on a Seiya Suzuki two-out single.
It was the first time this season a Marlins pitcher was called for a disengagement violation.
“That’s a mental mistake,” Schumaker said. “We have an idea of what we should have done there. The game kind of sped up on Cabby. Hopefully that doesn’t happen again.”
Cabrera proceeded to retire 12 of the next 15 he faced, eight by strikeout, before giving up the back-to-back two-out hits to Swanson and Happ in the fifth inning.
The Cubs added another run in the eighth on Matt Mervis’ RBI single against Tanner Scott — the first hit and RBI of Mervis’ career.
The Marlins scored their lone run of the game in the sixth when Jon Berti led off with an infield single, advanced to third on a Luis Arraez single and came home on a Yuli Gurriel sacrifice fly.
The Marlins hit into three double plays, went 0 for 5 with runners in scoring position and left five on base.
“We hit the ball into the ground,” Schumaker said. “ A couple of double-play balls kind of killed the momentum and base-running mistakes as well. We’ve had some bad base-running mistakes the last couple games and it’s cost us.”
Injury updates
▪ Right-handed pitcher Sixto Sanchez experienced slight shoulder soreness after his most recent extended spring training outing. The team said the soreness is unrelated to either of his two surgeries from the past two years. He will rest this weekend and resume his throwing program on Monday.
▪ Right-handed pitcher JT Chargois (right oblique) will begin a rehab assignment with Single A Jupiter on Saturday. He is scheduled to throw one inning.
▪ Right-handed pitcher Nic Enright (Hodgkin’s lymphoma) is having his rehab assignment transferred from Single A Jupiter to Triple A Jacksonville. His next outing is scheduled for Sunday.
▪ First baseman Garrett Cooper (inner ear infection) is feeling better but has not resumed baseball activities.
▪ Right-handed pitcher Tommy Nance (right shoulder) is scheduled to throw live batting practice Saturday in Jupiter.
This story was originally published May 5, 2023 at 4:29 PM.
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