Marlins dominate Cubs in sweep, advance to showdown with Braves
Garrett Cooper hit a solo home run to start a seventh-inning rally, Sixto Sanchez threw five scoreless innings and the Marlins swept the Cubs for their first postseason series win since 2003.
CHICAGO
Garrett Cooper, with a 2-2 count and two outs against National League Cy Young Award contender Yu Darvish in the seventh inning, gave the Marlins the clutch hit they needed Friday as they tried to close out a first-round playoff sweep.
He turned on an 82.9 mph slider that caused the visitor’s dugout to erupt amid the silence of an empty Wrigley Field. The celebration continued as the ball dropped 370 feet from home plate and into the left-field seats.
It started the latest two-out rally for the Marlins this season. This time, though, it led Miami to a wild-card series-clinching 2-0 win over the Cubs and punched their ticket to the National League Division Series. The Marlins opened the best-of-3 series with a 5-1 win on Wednesday and will face the Atlanta Braves in the National League Division Series starting Tuesday at
Houston’s Minute Maid Park.
“You work your whole life to get to a situation like this,” Cooper said, “to be in a situation where you can advance and control your own destiny by every play, every ball, everything that happens each play.”
The Cubs had the game-tying run at the plate in the ninth after Brandon Kintzler gave up a leadoff double.
But Kintzler, who spent the last season
and a half with the Cubs before signing with the Marlins this offseason, closed the game with three consecutive strikeouts against Javier Baez, David Bote and Jason Kipnis to begin the celebration just outside the Marlins’ dugout.
“As soon as it happens,” Marlins manager Don Mattingly said, “it’s a great feeling.”
And the latest great feeling for this team to experience.
A year ago the Marlins lost 105 games. They were called out as “BottomFeeders” after winning their first series against the Phillies, had 18 players test positive for COVID-19 to force a week of quarantine and one of the largest roster upheavals ever seen in MLB history, used 61 players and made 175 roster moves.
They still made the playoffs, and they’re winning in the playoffs, too.
“This was the craziest year I’ve every played in by far,” 13-year MLB veteran Matt Joyce said.
And it’s not over yet, after the Marlins continued to find ways to win at the right time.
On Friday, that came with a two-out rally, an area where the Marlins have excelled this year. They batted .251 this season with two outs, which was the seventh-highest mark in the majors and fifth in the National League. Moreover, the Marlins scored 122 of their 263 runs — an MLB-leading 46.4 percent — during the regular season with two outs.
It started with Cooper, who has gone through his own personal journey of highs and lows throughout his big-league career.
Two wrist injuries in 2018 limited him to 14 games. He played 107 games in 2019 but missed time due to a calf strain, a hand contusion and a hamstring strain. Then he found himself as one of the 18 to test positive for COVID-19 after that first series.
A sense of euphoria kicked in as he rounded the bases.
“That’s probably the best feeling I’ve had in my baseball career,” Cooper said. “... It’s just something you can’t explain. It’s something crazy.”
Magneuris Sierra followed Cooper’s home run with an RBI single through the right side. He got to the plate after Joyce doubled and the Cubs intentionally walked Miguel Rojas.
It all backed up a stout pitching performance led by rookie right-hander
Sixto Sanchez.
Sanchez, the Marlins’ top prospect, twirled five scoreless innings, holding the Cubs to four hits and two walks while striking out six. Sanchez also hit two batters.
Sanchez got out of the fourth inning after walking the first two batters he faced with help from his defense. Jon Berti grabbed a line drive from Kris Bryant for the first out before right fielder Joyce threw out Willson Contreras trying to score from second on a Jason Heyward single. A Baez flyout ended the inning.
In the fifth, Sanchez loaded the bases on a pair of one-out singles from Victor Caratini and Ian Happ and a two-out hit-bypitch before getting Kyle Schwarber to fly out to left and end the threat. Sanchez clapped his hands as Schwarber slammed his bat on the ground, knowing the out was going to be recorded.
Brad Boxberger (11⁄3 innings), Richard Bleier (two-thirds of an inning), Yimi Garcia (1 inning) and Kintzler (1 inning) threw four shutout innings to secure the win.
“We never gave up,” Sierra said, “and look where we’re at right now.”