Despite great bullpen performance, Marlins unable to win extra-inning game against the Reds

The Miami Marlins’ game against the Cincinnati Reds on Thursday night ended with a 10-4 loss in 10 innings.

But it almost had a storybook ending.

Almost.

The Marlins faced an early 3-0 deficit early in the game thanks to spotty pitching by starter Kyle Tyler and fielding errors. On the other side, Miami had to go against Hunter Greene, one of the league’s best pitchers this season. Through three innings, the odds the Marlins would win the game appeared slim to none.

But in the bottom of the fourth inning, the team had an unexpected offensive outburst. After the first three batters of the inning got on base, center fielder Derek Hill, right fielder Vidal Brujan and catcher Jhonny Pereda drove in runs to tie up the game.

It was Pereda’s second career major league hit, with his first coming an inning earlier.

“It was definitely a dream that I had since I was a little kid, and obviously [with] the long journey that I had through the minor league system, it just felt good to be able to get that first hit,” Pereda said.

While the career milestone was something that Pereda coveted, the ball was nearly lost for good.

“I saw that Elly [De La Cruz] threw the ball and it went into the stands,” Pereda said. “The first thought that came to my head was whether I’m able to get it back. Thankfully it came back to me.”

After tying up the score, the Marlins just needed one more run to clinch the game and even the series before leaving the clubhouse. But despite several opportunities, the team went just 2 for 14 with runners in scoring position.

“We had a chance in the eighth and ninth inning and just could not get that big hit,” Marlins manager Skip Schumaker said. “We had guys on base in scoring position. Felt like with the top of the order or the bottom of the order, with either one, we had our shot. [We] just couldn’t get that big hit.”

The game remained tied after nine innings. But that’s when the tires started to fall off.

After relief pitcher Emmanuel Ramirez walked Jonathan India and allowed an Elly De La Cruz single, Reds catcher Tyler Stephenson was up to bat. After Stephenson battled to make it a full count, a controversial ball toward the bottom of the zone gave Cincinnati the first run of extra innings. From there, the Reds broke open the game, scoring six more runs to make it a 10-3 ball game.

The deficit was too much to overcome for the Marlins in one inning.

Despite a commendable performance by a number of players, the game demonstrated how dire the situation was for the Marlins’ starting pitching. Tyler went just 4.1 innings, which put pressure on the Miami bullpen to carry the team the rest of the way.

The Marlins substituted seven different bullpen pitchers into the game. Through nine innings, the team had already used its go-to arms like Jesus Tinoco, Declan Cronin, Andrew Nardi, Anthony Bender and Calvin Faucher. By the time it went to extras, they had to go to Ramirez, who has only pitched in 16.1 innings this year.

“We’re just crushing the bullpen,” Schumaker said. “[Tyler] has seven starts but I think he went five innings just one time. So we gotta get over that and get into the fifth and sixth inning, so we can give a couple guys out there a break.”

With numerous starters still on the injury list, the Marlins have relied on bullpen pitching to get them through games this year. On Wednesday, the team received a 5.2 inning shutout from rookie Valente Bellozo. But for all the starting pitchers like Tyler, Bellozo, Edward Cabrera and Roddery Munoz, the remaining starts they get this season will likely determine whether they will even be on the team in 2025.

This story was originally published August 8, 2024 at 10:56 PM.