‘Bottom feeders’ feast
Once-maligned Marlins sweep into division series
CHICAGO — Garrett Cooper homered against Yu Darvish in a two-run seventh, hard-throwing rookie Sixto Sanchez dominated for five innings, and the Marlins won their first playoff series in 17 years, beating the Cubs 2-0 Friday to complete a two-game wild card series sweep.
The Marlins will face the Braves in an NL Division Series in Houston starting Tuesday.
Led by manager Don Mattingly and CEO Derek Jeter, the Marlins remained unbeaten in all seven postseason series they have played, following triumphs in the 1997 and 2003 NL championship series and World Series.
The Marlins lost 105 games in 2019 and became the first team to reach the playoffs after a 100-loss season. The Marlins finished second in the NL East at 31-29 despite being beset by a virus outbreak early this season that forced 18 players from the field following the opening series and prevented them from playing for more than a week.
Miami had T-shirts with “Bottom Feeders” in its dugout Friday, a
reference to a remark by Ricky Bottalico, a former Phillies pitcher and current NBC Sports Philadelphia analyst, after the Marlins' openingday win in Philadelphia.
“We're here and the Phillies are at home, so I think the'b`ottom feeders' is a good mantra to live on,” Cooper said.
The Cubs, the NL Central champions, went 3 for 27 (.111) with runners on base in the series. Javier Baez, Kris Bryant and Anthony Rizzo combined to go 0 for 12 Friday and finished the series 1 for 24. The trio is 19 for 142 (.134) with 52 strikeouts and six walks
in the postseason since the 2016 World Series title as the Cubs have lost nine of 13.
Cooper gave the Marlins a 1-0 lead with two out in the seventh with a drive into the seats beyond the left-field wall. Matt Joyce doubled off the glove of diving center fielder Ian Happ, and Miguel Rojas chased Darvish with an RBI single.
Sanchez overpowered the Cubs, striking out six and giving up four hits.
Former Cub Brandon Kintzler gave up a leadoff double to Jason Heyward in the ninth but struck out the next three batters.