Joey Wendle go-ahead double leads Marlins past Diamondbacks for 12th one-run win of season
Joey Wendle hit a go-ahead RBI double in the ninth inning to lead the Miami Marlins to a 5-4 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks on Wednesday at Chase Field.
The win moves the Marlins to an MLB-record 12-0 in one-run games to begin the season. The previous record was 11 set by the 1972 New York Mets and matched by the Marlins with their win on Sunday against the Chicago Cubs.
The Marlins (19-19) went 3-3 on this road trip. They dropped two of three games to the Cubs before winning two of three against the Diamondbacks (20-17).
Wendle’s ninth-inning double scored Bryan De La Cruz, who pinch-ran for Jesus Sanchez after Sanchez sustained an apparent hamstring injury running the bases on his leadoff double. It was just Wendle’s second hit of the season, both coming after being activated off the injured list Sunday following a monthlong stint sidelined due to a right intercostal strain.
“The goal is to win baseball games. My goal is to help us do that,” Wendle said. “So if you’re not getting many hits, try to make them count. Big win, big series win for the team here. ... Just a pretty gutsy performance out of us.”
The Diamondbacks scored all of their runs in the fourth inning after Edward Cabrera struggled with his command shortly a half inning after he was given a three-run lead on a Sanchez home run to straightaway center field. Sanchez had six extra-base hits in the three-game series — five doubles and the home run.
Cabrera walked four of the first five batters he faced in the fourth to force in the first run, was issued a balk to push across another run and then gave up a single to Geraldo Perdomo before being pulled with runners on the corners and just one out for Steven Okert. One of the two runners Okert inherited scored.
Before that, Cabrera needed just 32 pitches to get through the first three innings, allowing just a one-out double in the second while striking out five of the first 10 he faced.
The Marlins tied the score on a Garrett Hampson RBI single in the fifth that scored Peyton Burdick, who led off the inning with a double and moved to third on a Jacob Stallings sacrifice bunt.
After Okert threw 1 1/3 innings, Bryan Hoeing (1/3 inning), Tanner Scott (1 2/3 innings), Huascar Brazoban (1/3 inning), Dylan Floro (1 inning) and A.J. Puk (1 inning) held the Diamondbacks off the board the rest of the way. Puk recorded his sixth save of the season, a new single-season career-high.
“The bullpen was lights out,” Marlins manager Skip Schumaker said. “They’ve been a bright spot all year. Impressive job by them.”
This story was originally published May 10, 2023 at 6:25 PM.
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