‘We’re still fighting’: After losing streak ends, Marlins look to return to first-half form
After each Miami Marlins win this season, the team has followed the same ritual inside the clubhouse.
They gather in a circle before shortstop Joey Wendle says a few words praising some of the top performers. Then, Wendle points out the player of the game, who then says his parting words about the game before the team gets ready to go home.
“I just feel like it’s important after a game, a major-league win, to just acknowledge the guys that pitch well or hit well or made good plays, whatever it may be,” Wendle said. “Just doing it every day, just having something consistent you do every game after a way is important. We come together, we put our phones down for like three minutes and just be together as a team. ... Don’t just be like ‘yeah, we won’ and then everyone goes their own way. It’s really taken shape. I think the guys enjoy it.”
That’s especially true after going so long in between them.
Prior to their 3-2, 10-inning, walk-off victory on Sunday against the Colorado Rockies, the Marlins went two weeks between postgame celebrations. Their most recent win before that was against the Philadelphia Phillies on July 9, their final game before the All-Star Break that put them at 14 games over .500 and with the second-best record in the National League.
They then lost eight consecutive games once play resumed, getting swept on the road by the Baltimore Orioles and St. Louis Cardinals on the road and dropping their first two games against the Rockies at home.
So when they finally ended the losing streak on Sunday, the celebration returned in full force.
“I missed that,” said All-Star second baseman Luis Arraez, who had the walk-off-winning hit. “I missed my teammates doing that, especially Joey with a lot of energy. And I want to do that every day. I want to win every day. That’s why I’m here. And especially we lost a lot of games, but we’re still fighting, we’re fighting, and then we come back.”
The goal on Sunday was to stop the bleeding, end the free fall.
The next step is to make sure Sunday wasn’t just a momentary blip of success. Miami is off Monday before playing a quick two-game series with the Tampa Bay Rays at Tropicana Field on Tuesday and Wednesday.
The Marlins enter Monday still well in the mix for a playoff spot despite the season-long eight-game losing streak they endured. Miami and Philadelphia just outside of the wild card picture, with the Cincinnati Reds (55-46), Arizona Diamondbacks (54-46) and San Francisco Giants (54-46) holding the three spots.
The difference between the Reds in the top wild card spot and the Marlins just outside the playoffs right now? One game.
“We just need to keep continuing to play hard,” Arraez said.
The Marlins have said throughout the losing streak that there wasn’t any panic. They didn’t completely alter their routines or have an emphatic team meeting. They knew it was a matter of time before the flip switched.
“These guys are going about it the right way,” Marlins manager Skip Schumaker said. “This will pass. You figure out who you are when you fail.”
The Marlins hope they have figured themselves out.
“Obviously we’ve been struggling and yeah we really needed [the win],” catcher Nick Fortes said, “but morale has still been there. We’ve still been up. We still have been positive. We know we can do it, so [the losing streak] didn’t affect us at all, but it felt really nice to actually come out with [a win].”
This and that
▪ Since play resumed following the All-Star Break, Marlins utility player Jon Berti is hitting .556 (10 for 18) with one double, one triple and a team-high four runs scored. The only Marlins player with more hits than Berti since the break, unsurprisingly, is Arraez with 13.
▪ In his first week of rehab assignment games with Double A Pensacola, Avisail Garcia has gone 3 for 17 with one double, one home run, three RBI and four runs scored with five strikeouts and three walks.
Garcia has been on the injured list with a back injury since April 29.
“He’s missed a lot of time,” Schumaker said, “so it’s gonna take him some time to get his timing back. ... He’s coming back healthy and feeling healthy after games.”
▪ Left-handed pitcher Andrew Nardi (triceps inflammation) is slated to start a rehab assignment this week.
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