Marlins swept by Rangers after being shut out in finale. Takeaways from the loss
For a microcosm of how things have been going for the Miami Marlins since the All-Star Break, look at one play from the sixth inning Sunday against the Texas Rangers.
Miami had runners on first and second with no outs after Jacob Stallings drew a walk and Luis Arraez hit a single. A prime scoring opportunity.
Jorge Soler then rips a line drive hit off his bat at 109.4 mph that, according to Statcast, had an 83 percent chance of falling for a hit.
Instead, the ball bounces off Rangers third baseman Josh Jung’s glove. Jung picks up the ball, steps on third and throws to second base for a double play. Two plays later, the Marlins left the inning without a run. Three innings later, the Marlins left Globe Life Field with a 6-0 loss.
“When you’re on a streak like this,” Marlins manager Skip Schumaker said, “those plays happen. I haven’t seen a play like that ever in my big-league career and it so happens to be a double play.”
The Marlins had just three more hits the rest of the game after that double play en route to their eighth shutout loss of the season.
And with that, Miami (58-55) was swept for the third time in seven series since the second half of the season began — they were swept just twice before the All-Star Break, with both coming against the Atlanta Braves. Texas (66-46) won the first two games of the series 6-2 on Friday and 9-8 on Saturday.
Here are three takeaways from the game.
Long ball dooms the Marlins ... again
As has been the case all series, the Rangers had little trouble taking Marlins pitchers deep.
On Sunday, Sandy Alcantara was the primary victim.
The Rangers hit three of their four home runs in the finale against Alcantara — a two-run shot from Nathaniel Lowe in the third and leadoff, solo home runs from Marcus Semien in the fifth and Ezequiel in the sixth. It was the first time this season Alcantara has allowed three home runs in a game and just the fifth time in his career (once each in 2022 and 2021 and twice in 2019).
The home runs to Lowe and Semien were on elevated sliders.
Texas added a fourth home run Sunday in the eighth inning when Adolis Garcia took Geoff Hartlieb deep. Duran’s home run was on a middle-up four-seam fastball.
Overall, the Rangers hit 10 home runs in three games against the Marlins that accounted for 15 of their 21 runs scored in the series. They hit three against Jesus Luzardo on Friday and three total on Saturday (one against George Soriano and two against Ryan Weathers).
It’s the seventh time in Marlins history that the team has given up at least three home runs in three consecutive games and the first since Aug. 13-15, 2019.
Alcantara, who had given up just one earned run over 17 innings in his two starts prior to Sunday, gave up five runs (four earned runs) on six hits with seven strikeouts over six innings against the Rangers.
How did Alcantara evaluate the outing?
“Really bad,” Alcantara said, “because we lost. ... We’ve got to do everything we can do to get on track.”
Road woes
Just how bad have things been for the Marlins on this side of the All-Star Break? In addition to being 5-16 in 21 games overall, they are also just 1-10 on the road since play resumed.
Their lone win away from loanDepot park was a 7-1 win against the Tampa Bay Rays on July 26.
Next up: Another contender
The Marlins’ run of 22 consecutive games against playoff contenders continues with a three-game series against the Cincinnati Reds at Great American Ball Park.
The Marlins, hopefully, are catching the Reds at the right time. Cincinnati (59-55) is on a six-game losing streak.
After playing the Reds, the Marlins return home to host the New York Yankees and Houston Astros before going on the road to face the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres.
All five of those teams are entered Sunday either leading their division (Dodgers), in a wild-card spot (Astros and Reds) or within four games of a wild card spot (Yankees and Padres).
This story was originally published August 6, 2023 at 4:58 PM.
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