Lopez back in prime form to stymie Rockies
Pablo Lopez, so often the model of consistency and somehow something of an elder statesman in this Marlins rotation, was unusually off kilter throughout the first few weeks of June, until he took the mound Wednesday and got to wash those frustrations away with a 7-4 win.
In three of his previous six outings, Lopez gave up at least four earned runs. In one of those starts, a line drive hit him on the wrist and knocked him out of the game before he could finish five innings. The response to his injury was a start delayed and then a shellacking at the hands of the New York Mets on Friday.
It all meant he needed the sort of outing he delivered Wednesday and so did his Marlins, so he quietly pumped his fist when he walked back to the clubhouse for good at the end of the seventh inning. The crafty starting pitcher put together his best outing in more than a month to shut down the Colorado Rockies and clinch a series victory for Miami.
Lopez, 26, went seven innings for the first time since June 4 and his opponent to one run or fewer for the first time since May. He hadn’t managed both of those feats in the same game in nearly six weeks, back when his ERA
started with a one.
He added six strikeouts and allowed just four hits, although he did walk three. Most importantly, he danced out of trouble nearly every time he dug himself a hole and made it easy for the Marlins’ offense to put together a second straight comefrom-behind win.
The only run Lopez surrendered came from the very first batter he faced. Yonathan Daza led off the game with a double and came around to score on a sacrifice fly by Charlie Blackmon. The 1-0 deficit, however, only lasted until the third inning, when Miami (31-36) erupted for four runs to take a 4-1 lead with infielders Jazz Chisholm Jr., Jon Berti, Miguel Rojas and Garrett Cooper all scoring.
The Marlins later tacked
on three more in the seventh with back-to-back home runs by Chisholm and outfielder Jorge Soler to go up 7-1 and pull away from Colorado (30-39) in front of 8,983 at loanDepot park.
Miami has now scored at least five runs in 12 of 21 games this month.
While he was in the game, Lopez pitched with a relatively tight margin for error, though, and ended his outing by getting out of two potentially dire situations. In the sixth, he gave up a leadoff triple to Rockies middle infielder Brendan Rodgers, only to respond with two straight strikeouts and a harmless flyout to get out of the jam. In the seventh, he coughed up a one-out single, prompting a mound visit from pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre Jr., and then
breezed through the next two hitters on five pitches to end his day.
NEW WAY TO WATCH MARLINS
Bally Sports is debuting a new over-the-top, streaming service Thursday and South Florida will be one of five markets to be in the initial roll-out.
Bally Sports+ is a new streaming service, which will let fans to subscribe to their local network as a standalone entity. Right now, the only way fans are able to access Bally Sports Florida is with a cable subscription or via certain streaming services. The new app will let cordcutters watch the Marlins — and, in the fall, the Miami Heat and Florida Panthers — without subscribing to any other packages.
The service will cost $19.99 per month or $189.99 annually.
“We’re excited to provide a new way for local fans to watch Marlins games,” Bally Florida president Steve Tello said in a statement. “Bally Sports+ is specifically designed for the hometown cord-cutter and for fans looking for an easy, direct way to watch their favorite teams.”
This is not meant for cable subscribers, as Bally Sports+ will simply provide everything available on Bally Sports Florida, including games, and pregame and postgame shows. Instead, this is meant for those who live locally and no longer have cable and might subscribe to a streaming service without access to Bally, including YouTube TV and Hulu.
Viewers anywhere in Florida will be able to use Bally Sports+ to watch Marlins games. Those outside the state still need to use MLB.com’s MLB.tv to watch.
As of now, fans will be able to stream Bally Sports+ on the web, iOS, Android, Apple TV and Amazon Fire TV, with an expectation of a Roku app to come soon, too.
UP NEXT
The Marlins wrap up their three-game series against the Rockies on Thursday at 12:10 p.m. They’ll then play three more against the Mets on Friday, Saturday and Sunday to close out this sixgame homestand.