The Miami Marlins are playing a lot of close games this season. Is it sustainable?
The Miami Marlins had their chances Monday against the Colorado Rockies. The game was always in striking distance.
But with each key chance to break the game open, the opportunity withered away in the 5-3 loss to begin a four-game series at Coors Field, a loss that dropped the Marlins back to a .500 record.
They went 2 for 11 with runners in scoring position. They left 10 runners on base. They hit into two early double plays. They had some head-scratching plays — Garrett Cooper hesitating on a wild pitch and being thrown out at third in the second inning, Joey Wendle bunting with one out in the eighth and the team down two runs — that proved costly, too.
“We had guys on base,” Marlins manager Skip Schumaker said. “A couple double play balls hurt us and some baserunning mistakes cost us maybe a potential big inning. At this place, no lead is safe, so you just want to keep adding on, adding on, adding on. ... We had the right guys up at the right time. Just didn’t cash in.”
With that, the Marlins are now 24-24 entering Tuesday. They have gone 1-3 so far on this three-city, 10-game road trip after dropping two of three against the San Francisco Giants.
But it’s worth noting all four games played so far on this trip — just like so many others this season — have followed a similar theme: They have all been close games.
More specifically, all four games have been decided by two runs or fewer. In fact, each of Miami’s past nine games and 10 of their last 11 dating to their series finale with the Diamondbacks on May 10 have had a margin of victory one way or the other of either one or two runs. Overall this season, 25 of Miami’s 48 games played have been within two runs.
The Marlins have liked their chances when they keep games close and understandably so. They were 17-4 in games decided by two or less heading into this road trip.
But usually, eventually, those things even out. They have started to do so on this road trip.
The only win so far is a 1-0 shutout against the San Francisco Giants on Saturday, a game in which Braxton Garrett threw 6 1/3 shutout innings in his best start of the year and they got a timely single from Jon Berti in the eighth to score Garrett Hampson, who reached on an error.
Other than that, Miami either failed to get the big inning or failed to shut down the opponent when momentum was shifting in their favor.
On Friday, Miami took the lead in the top of the sixth on a Bryan De La Cruz two-run double and then promptly give it back when the Giants scored three runs in the bottom half of the inning against Sandy Alcantara. inal score: 4-3 Giants.
On Sunday, the Marlins had 13 hits and scored five runs, but the Giants tagged Jesus Luzardo for six and added an insurance run late. The Marlins still had chance to tie the score when Jorge Soler — who had four hits already in the game — stepped into the box with a runner on and two outs in the ninth. Soler, however, got under a Camilo Doval fastball for a game-ending flyout. Final score: 7-5 Giants.
And then the series-opening loss to the Rockies.
“We hit some balls well,” said catcher Jacob Stallings, who drove in two runs and scored a third on Monday. “They either ran them down in the outfield or we just hit it at them. It’s gonna happen. I thought guys had good at-bats. We drove some balls that unfortunately just got caught and they drove some balls that didn’t get caught. It’s just the way it goes.”
.JPG)