Takeaways from Marlins’ series-opening win against Dodgers as Miami hits four more home runs
The long ball continues to benefit the Miami Marlins as they make their September push for a playoff spot.
The Marlins clobbered four home runs on Tuesday — two against Clayton Kershaw, two against Ryan Yarbrough — en route to a 6-3 series-opening win against the Los Angeles Dodgers at loanDepot park.
The Marlins, who have now won five consecutive games, are 71-67 on the season. The Dodgers fall to 84-53.
Jake Burger, Josh Bell, Bryan De La Cruz and Jazz Chisholm Jr. hit the home runs for Miami, with De La Cruz and Chisholm going back-to-back against Yarbrough in the eighth to break the 3-3 tie. It was the third time this season the Marlins have hit home runs in back-to-back at-bats.
Since the win streak started on Thursday, the Marlins have hit 12 home runs, which have accounted for 21 of their 37 runs scored in this stretch.
Here are three takeaways from the game.
Another quality start for Jesus Luzardo
Marlins left-handed pitcher Jesus Luzardo held the Dodgers to two runs on four hits and a walk while striking out six over six innings of work.
All of Los Angeles’ damage against Luzardo came in the third inning, when Freddie Freeman and Will Smith hit back-to-back two-out singles to respectively score James Outman (leadoff walk) and Miguel Rojas (single).
Outside of the third inning, Luzardo gave up just one hit.
After four consecutive rough outings from July 30-Aug. 16 in which he pitched to a 9.00 ERA (17 earned runs in 17 innings) and pitch fewer than five innings in three of those four outings, Luzardo has thrown six innings in each of his past three starts, giving up just two runs on seven hits and four walks while striking out 21.
Through 28 starts overall this season, Luzardo has a 3.59 ERA (10th in the National League among qualified pitchers) and a 10.49 strikeouts per nine inning ratio (fifth in NL) over 155 1/3 innings (tied for 12th in NL).
Luzardo, however, was left with a no-decision after the Dodgers tied the game on a Chris Taylor solo home run against A.J. Puk in the seventh inning.
Andrew Nardi then pitched a scoreless eighth inning in his first appearance in nearly a week before De La Cruz and Chisholm hit their back-to-back home runs to give Miami the lead for good. Tanner Scott closed the game with a scoreless ninth for his fifth save.
Jake Burger continues to smash
Third baseman Jake Burger opened scoring for the Marlins with a solo home run in the fourth inning, sending an elevated Kershaw changeup a projected 368 feet off the top of the wall in left field.
It was Burger’s 31st home run of the season, sixth since joining the Marlins and fourth in the past five games.
Burger has also hit five total home run in seven games against the Dodgers this season (four with the Marlins, three with the White Sox). That’s the most by any player in MLB against the Dodgers.
Burger also added a single in the second inning and was hit by a pitch in the eighth before De La Cruz’s go-ahead home run.
In 30 games since joining the Marlins at the trade deadline, Burger is hitting .322 (37 for 115) with seven doubles, six home runs, 16 RBI and 18 runs scored. He has multiple hits in 10 of the 30 games.
Playoff standings
With the Reds beating the Mariners, the Cubs beating the Giants, the Padres beating the Phillies and Rockies beating the Diamondbacks, the Marlins are a half-game out of the third wild card spot with 24 games left on their schedule through games played Tuesday.
The full wild card standings are as follows:
▪ Phillies (76-62), five games ahead of the Marlins
▪ Cubs (75-64), three-and-a-half games ahead of the Marlins
▪ Reds (73-68), one-half game ahead of the Marlins
▪ Marlins (71-67), one-half game out of a playoff spot
▪ Diamondbacks (71-68), one-half game behind the Marlins and one game out of a playoff spot
▪ Giants (70-69), one-and-a-half games behind the Marlins and two games out of a playoff spot
The Marlins are in the beginning of a stretch of 16 games in 16 consecutive days, the first 13 of which are against teams firmly in the National League playoff field — the Dodgers, Phillies, Brewers and Braves.
This story was originally published September 5, 2023 at 9:09 PM.
.JPG)