Miami bullpen blows four-run 9th inning lead
Wasted outing as Straily allows one earned run in eight innings
MIAMI — It’s not easy to blow a four-run ninthinning lead, but the Marlins found a way on Friday night.
After Dan Straily pitched an absolute gem — eight innings, one earned run — Miami entered the ninth with a 5-1 lead over the Blue Jays. It looked like the Marlins would coast to a series-opening win, but disaster struck for the second time this week.
After Kyle Barraclough loaded the bases with one out in the ninth, Drew Steckenrider was called upon to try and save the game. After striking out his first batter, he walked in a run to make it 5-2. Still, Miami was up by three runs.
That all changed with one pitch.
Justin Smoak crushed a pinch-hit grand slam to right field, giving the Blue Jays a 6-5 lead, which they would hold on to as the Marlins dropped their fourth straight game.
It was the third straight game the Marlins bullpen blew a late lead. On Wednesday, Miami gave up 11 runs in the seventh inning against the Red Sox, and on Tuesday they lost an eighth-inning lead at Fenway Park.
For the second straight outing, Straily was excellent on the mound. After tossing six scoreless last week vs. the Braves, the Marlins righthander was back at it Friday night. Straily pitched eight innings, allowing one run on four hits.
The 29-year-old kept Toronto off the scoreboard for the first five innings — extending his scoreless-innings streak to 12 — before giving up one in the sixth. That was all the Blue Jays would get off him as Straily threw 104 pitches in his longest outing of the year.
After three scoreless innings to start the night, the Marlins bats came alive in the fourth. Brian Anderson
led off the inning with a double and then scored two batters later on a Derek Dietrich RBI single. Starlin Castro and JT Riddle immediately followed up with base knocks to give Miami three consecutive hits and a 2-0 lead. The Marlins tacked on one more in the frame with an Austin Dean RBI groundout.
Miami added a pair of runs in the bottom of the fifth as JT Realmuto and Castro delivered RBI hits to extend the lead to 5-0. Five different Marlins had RBI on the night.
Continuing his stellar rookie campaign, Anderson reached base in four of his five plate appearances, finishing 2 for 3 with two doubles and two walks. The third baseman’s second double gave him 30 on the season.