Volquez steady, but Marlins finish road trip with loss
“At this point, I’d still say we’re not trending forward, it doesn’t feel like.” Don Mattingly, Marlins’ manager
OAKLAND — The Miami Marlins will return home the same way they left it: searching for answers.
The Marlins lost to the Oakland Athletics, 4-1, on Wednesday, concluding their road trip by missing another chance to win consecutive games for what would have been the first time in more than a month.
On four occasions, including Tuesday, during this team-wide slump, the Marlins have scored double-digit runs in a win. In the game immediately following each of those wins, including Wednesday, the Marlins scored a combined seven runs.
That drastic inconsistency, paired with similarly inconsistent performances from the rotation and at times the bullpen, has foiled all attempts at building any semblance of momentum or win-column traction. The Marlins are 6-21 in the past month.
If you take a myopic view — and turn your head and squint a little— the Marlins have shown signs of the beginning of a potential upward trend. They have won two out of four games, with downright offensive outbursts in the wins, and Tyler Moore stepped to the plate in the topof the ninth Wednesday as the would-be tying run before popping out.
Manager Don Mattingly doesn’t quite see it thatway.
“At this point, I’d still say we’re not trending forward, it doesn’t feel like,” Mattingly said. “We end up winning our last three out of four if we were able to win
[Wednesday]. We weren’t able to do it, obviously.”
This time, at least, the offensive futility could be assigned largely to a dominant effort from the opposing starter.
Athletics right-hander Sonny Gray turned in a vintage performance, or at least one as vintage as a 27-year-old can be. A burgeoning star and considered among the best young pitchers in baseball during his All-Star 2015, Gray ran into a wall of injury and ineffectiveness last season.
He returned this month, and Wednesday was his best game out of five. He shut the Marlins down for seven innings, allowing one run and striking out11. Miami had three hits and one walk.
The Marlins’ only run scored in the fourth, when the new-look top of the lineup — Dee Gordon and Giancarlo Stanton — led off with back-to-back singles. Gordon scored from third on a wild pitch.
All of Edinson Volquez’s trouble came when hewas a pitch away of ending an inning.
In the first inning, with two outs and nobody on, Jed Lowrie doubled to right-center and Khris Davis homered to rightcenter on back-to-back pitches for a pair of runs.
“I forgot how strong he is,” Volquez said. “I started walking back to the dugout and I sawthe ball carry all theway to the fence.”
In the fifth inning, with two outs and nobody on, Matt Joyce walked on four pitches and Lowrie doubled into the rightfield corner for another run.
Lowrie finished 4 for 4 with two RBI, including a seventh-inning insurance tally off Brad Ziegler.
Overall, it goes down as one of Volquez’s better starts as a Marlin. While lasting six innings for the third consecutive outing, Volquez allowed three runs on seven hits in a walk. Two strikeouts tied his season low.
Right-hander Drew Steckenrider made his major league debut with a scoreless eighth inning. He struck out one batter and allowed one hit.
The Marlins head back to South Florida for 10 games in 10 days at Marlins Park following a day off Thursday. But that’s not necessarily as appetizing an opportunity as it might sound as far as turning around the season goes. At 6-14, the Marlins have been theworst home team in baseball in 2017.
“It’s really hard because you don’t want to lose every time you come to the ballpark,” Volquez said. “I believe in this team. We can win some games.”
Then he added, mostly sarcastically: “Hopefully I can win one game before the season is over.”