Marlins rally, then fall apart in seventh inning against Astros. Takeaways from the loss
After nearly rallying from an first-inning five-run deficit, the Miami Marlins’ bullpen imploded in the seventh inning of an eventual 12-5 loss to the Houston Astros on Wednesday at loanDepot park.
Miami (63-59) dropped two of three to Houston (70-52), winning the series opener 5-1 on Monday before falling 6-5 on Tuesday and losing the finale Wednesday.
With 40 games left in the regular season, Miami is tied with the Cincinnati Reds for the National League’s third wild card spot and now heads on its final West Coast trip of the season to face the Los Angeles Dodgers and the San Diego Padres.
Here are three takeaways from the game.
This was just the latest rough start for Jesus Luzardo
The Marlins’ pitching struggles on Wednesday started with left-handed pitcher Jesus Luzardo, who gave up six runs (five earned runs) over 3 2/3 innings against the Astros.
Luzardo found himself in an early hole after the Astros tagged him for five runs in the first inning, including four runs coming via three home runs in the first five at-bats of the game.
Alex Bregman ambushed a middle-away fastball on the first pitch of his at-bat and sent it 413 feet to center field.
Kyle Tucker followed one at-bat later and lifted a middle-middle slider 397 feet to right-center field.
And then two batters later, after giving up an infield single to Yordan Alvarez, Luzardo threw a middle-middle changeup to Chas McCormick, who pummeled the pitch 435 feet to straightaway center field.
But this is just the latest in Luzardo’s struggles as of late.
Wednesday was the second consecutive start in which Luzardo failed to finish four innings and the fourth time in a six-start span since returning from the All-Star Break in which Luzardo failed to get through the fifth inning.
In those six starts, Luzardo has a 7.39 ERA (23 earned runs allowed in 28 innings) after pitching to a 3.29 ERA in his first 19 starts of the season.
Luzardo has also been plagued by the home run in the second half, allowing eight over the past 12 2/3 innings in his past three starts.
The disastrous seventh inning
While Luzardo’s five-run first inning put Miami in a bind from the start, it was the seventh inning that proved to be the back breaker for the Marlins.
Houston sent 10 batters to the plate against three Marlins relievers, scoring six runs on three hits, four walks and a sacrifice fly.
The full breakdown of that inning, which pushed the Marlins’ deficit from 6-5 to 12-5:
▪ Andrew Nardi, who finished the sixth inning, gets Yordan Alvarez to pop out before walking McCormick and giving up a single to Jon Singleton. Nardi exits. Jorge Lopez enters.
▪ Lopez walks Jeremy Pena to load the bases, gives up a sacrifice fly to Mauricio Dubon (with catcher Nick Fortes just missing the tag on McCormick), walks Martin Maldonado to reload the bases and Jose Altuve to force in a run, and then gives up a two-run double to Bregman and an RBI single to Tucker. That ends Lopez’s night.
▪ George Soriano enters and gets Alvarez to hit a flyout to left field to mercifully end the inning.
Marlins nearly come back
After the first inning implosion and before the Astros’ uproar in the seventh, the Marlins’ offense managed to make the game competitive.
Miami scratched its way to within a run, 6-5, after scoring two runs in the bottom of the first on a Jake Burger two-RBI double, two in the fourth on a Jon Berti fielder’s choice paired with a Jeremy Pena throwing error trying to turn a double play and one in the fifth on a Bryan De La Cruz RBI double.
The Marlins chased Astros starter Justin Verlander after just five innings by tagging him for the five runs (four earned runs) on a season-high nine hits.
Burger and Josh Bell, the Marlins’ position-player additions at the trade deadline, combined for five of the nine hits against Verlander.
But Miami’s lineup came up empty in the final four innings.
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