Ichiro’s four hits pace Marlins in comeback win over Rays

With runs at a premium the past few games, the Marlins had rare occasion to break out the postgame party inside their home clubhouse.

Monday night, however, the strobe lights were back on, cutting though thick wasps of fog as the bass pumped so loud it shook bobbleheads atop locker stalls.

By scoring twice in the eighth inning to rally for a 7-6 win over the Rays, who could blame them for cutting loose a bit?

“It was a good win, a lot of good stuff,’’ manager Don Mattingly said.

“A lot of good things happened.’’

Miami, which averaged fewer than two runs over its previous five games, scored three runs in the bottom of the first alone.

The Marlins trailed 6-5, however, going into the eighth yet their hot bats certainly came through when it counted.

Miami tied the score on a sacrifice fly to right from pinch-hitter Cole Gillespie then took the lead on a grounder from Martin Prado which scored Adeiny Hechavarria.

“It was a pretty good game overall,’’ Prado said. “We came back, they came back but at the end, we got the run and [closer A.J. Ramos] closed the door. It was a battle for sure.’’

The two teams, which play again Tuesday at 12:10 p.m., combined for 26 hits — Miami got 14 of them — and stranded 17.

Ichiro Suzuki continued his ascent up the major league all-time hits list by getting hits in his first three trips to the plate and four in five at-bats.

Suzuki helped Miami’s eighth continue as he singled with one out to put runners on the corners allowing Prado’s come-backer to pitcher Alex Colome score Hechavarria.

“I feel normal,’’ Suzuki said through a translator. “It was a baseball game tonight, a tough game but you feel like you’re playing the game. That’s how it felt to me. ... It’s still tough.’’

Said Mattingly: “For anyone, really, we shouldn’t even talk about his age the way he’s swinging the bat. It’s amazing. He’s fun to watch.”

Miami trailed 2-0 after the top of the first but scored three in the bottom half of the inning and ended up leading 5-3 going into the sixth.

Tampa Bay scored twice in the sixth — one from Taylor Motter’s solo shot off the home run sculpture in center and another coming via a two-out single from former Marlin Logan Morrison — to tie the score.

In the seventh, the Rays took the lead back on a double from Motter which scored Tim Beckham from first.

Miami, which not only got four hits from Suzuki but one from the slumping Giancarlo Stanton, hadn’t scored over two runs since beating the host Phillies 5-3 last Monday night.

Suzuki has hits in 10 of his past 13 at-bats since replacing Christian Yelich (back spasms) in the lineup on Saturday.

Yelich came out of the dugout with the look of pinch hitting in the eighth only he would not.

Mattingly’s ruse worked as the Rays put in lefty Enny Romero and Yelich took a seat.

Gillespie then came out with no outs and runners on the corners and flied out to the right field corner to tie things up.

Mattingly didn’t say Yelich was out prior to Monday’s game, instead telling reporters it was possible Yelich could be used as a pinch-hitter.

After the game, Mattingly said Yelich was never going to the plate.

“No, no, no,’’ he said. “They don’t know, that’s why we talk about it before a game and you never want to say whether you can use a guy or can’t use a guy. Their guy had a lot of pitches.’’

Tampa Bay took a 2-0 lead into the bottom of the first before Miami scored its runs on an RBI double from Prado and two more on a two-out single from Miguel Rojas.

Tied at 3 after a solo shot from Guyer landed in the Clevelander, Miami took a 4-3 lead when Marcell Ozuna homered to left with two down in the third.

Rojas led off the fourth with a double to right and later scored on Suzuki’s third hit of the game — a single to right — to make it 5-3.

Tampa Bay closed Miami’s lead to one off Motter’s homer to lead off the sixth.

Starter Wei-Yin Chen was pulled with two outs in the sixth after Guyer doubled. Reliever Jose Urena then gave up a single to pinch-hitter Morrison as Guyer raced home with the tying run.

With Beckham at first after being walked by reliever Kyle Barraclough, Motter doubled to make it 6-5 before being thrown out trying to take third on the throw home.

This story was originally published May 23, 2016 at 10:38 PM with the headline "Ichiro’s four hits pace Marlins in comeback win over Rays."