Homers by Ozuna, Bour power sweep
MIAMI — The race for the lead in home runs in the National League has lately been upstaged by a trio of Marlins sluggers playing their own game of long-ball one-upsmanship.
Marcell Ozuna’s third homer in five games Wednesday provided the early spark for a season-best four-game Marlins winning streak, as a 10-2 victory against the Phillies completed Miami’s first series sweep of the season in front of a sparse matinee crowd at Marlins Park.
The opposite-field tworun shot off Aaron Nola in the first inning was Ozuna’s 14th, matching Giancarlo Stanton for the team lead. That lasted until first baseman Justin Bour hit homers in the fifth and sixth innings to vault past them with 15.
Bour was tied for second in the NL behind Scott Schebler, who hit his 16th for the Reds in another afternoon game.
“We do we give each other a hard time, whoever has the most home runs,” Bour said of the intramural competition. “Ozuna likes to say, ‘How many you got?’ every day whenever he hits a home run. Whenever I pass him I give him a hard time because he was saying it to me early on when I had like one home run and he had 30. We’ll see who does tomorrow.”
Bour shook off a slow start (he was hitting .178 on April 28) with a torrid May that saw him hit .344 (33-for-96) with 11 homers and 21 RBI. He became the sixth Marlin to hit 15 or more homers before June 1 (Gary Sheffield’s 17 in 1996 were the most).
Ozuna homered for the second consecutive game with one of Ichiro Suzuki’s bats. He retired it after Wednesday’s homer and plans to display it on the wall at home.
Stanton spent the day watching from the dugout as a precaution after leaving Tuesday’s game with a hamstring cramp. He was available to pinch-hit and is expected to play Thursday.
“I said it in spring training that we have a dangerous lineup,” Bour said. “I feel like people are starting to get into their roles and the at-bats are starting to pile together. I think we’re realizing just how good this lineup can be.”
Notably, the homers contributed to continuing a Marlins surge that enabled them to conclude May with wins in six of their past eight games after winning only four times during the first three weeks of the month.
A big factor in improving to 5-1 on the homestand was another strong performance by Dan Straily, who recorded a win in his third consecutive start. Straily (4-3) allowed two runs (one earned) in 6 innings, while striking out 10, his second time in double digits in 2016.
Of the Marlins’ starters, the right-hander acquired in an offseason trade with Cincinnati has done the most to step into the void of staff ace left by the late Jose Fernandez.
“I think you’d probably say he’s been our best pitcher, our most consistent guy so far,” manager Don Mattingly said.
Straily showed competitive mettle when he faced his biggest test in the fifth after giving up back-to-back singles to open the inning. A two-out infield single by Cesar Hernandez loaded the bases, as Dee Gordon got a glove on it to save a run. But Straily left them loaded as he fooled Aaron Altherr with a slider in the zone.
“They were one swing away from being down only one there. You have to look at each inning and each pitch because you never know when the most important pitch is going to come,” Straily said. “Obviously, in the game it was that at-bat.”