Marlins romp with 8-run fifth
Maybin, Anderson launch homers during inning
MIAMI – In the Marlins’ final game before the All-Star break, the hits started coming and they didn’t stop coming.
Miami scored eight runs in an explosive fifth inning, erasing a five-run deficit and propping the Marlins to a 10-5 win over the Philadelphia Phillies. The Marlins finished the first half of the season by winning five of their last seven games, including their last two series against current playoff teams Milwaukee and Philadelphia.
The Marlins enter the All-Star break at 41-57 and in last place in the National League East. They are not on pace for the 100-loss season many pegged them for in the preseason, but entered Sunday just a half-game better than the Padres to stay out of the NL basement.
“The only thing not to like is our record,” Marlins manager Don Mattingly said.
Thirteen batters came to the plate in the bottom of the fifth and the eight runs were the most in an inning this season for Miami. The Marlins last scored as many runs in an inning on July 26 last year in Texas, when they hung a nine-run fourth inning on the Rangers.
The Phillies cycled through three pitchers in the inning. Cameron Maybin launched a moonshot home run to the Budweiser bar beyond left field. Brian Anderson’s opposite-field three-run home run brought the Marlins within one run. Miguel Rojas and Justin Bour each drove in two runs with singles.
“It just seemed like we kept getting our pitches and hitting them,” Anderson said. “It seemed like nobody was missing anything and if they did miss it, it just kept dropping. Offense is contagious and that’s the way it goes sometimes.”
Offensive outbursts have been few and far between for the Marlins this season. They average 3.8 runs per game and rank near the bottom of the league in home runs and slugging percentage. Only six times in their first 97 games did the Marlins score more than eight runs.
They needed the rally after Jose Ureña gave up five runs in a nightmarish fourth inning. Philadelphia sent nine batters to the plate and was a homer shy of hitting for the cycle in the frame, highlighted by Cesar Hernandez’s threerun triple. Ureña threw 42 pitches in the inning and was replaced by Elieser Hernandez the next inning.
“We haven’t seen that in a while. He’s been pretty clean, throwing strikes. Today, he was kind of all over the zone.”
Since the Marlins traded away four key cogs during the winter, this season was destined for rebuilding. There was no more Giancarlo Stanton or Christian Yelich or Marcell Ozuna or Dee Gordon to anchor the offense.
Instead, rookies Anderson and Lewis Brinson have been asked to develop and produce. Anderson has. Brinson hasn’t. Eleven different pitchers have started for the Marlins this season, including top prospects like Sandy Alcantara, veterans like Wei-Yin Chen and Dan Straily, and unknowns like Caleb Smith and Trevor Richards.
“Our effort’s been great,” Mattingly said before the game. “I think they, guys have fought. We’re a team that’s gaining an approach when we hit. A lot of good things, but I still think you expect to win. There’s a lot of games we could have won in this first half and change the narrative even more than it is. We really could have won a lot more games.”