Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Coming up short
Stanton leaves game after being hit, is day-to-day
PITTSBURGH — The Miami Marlins dropped their game against the Pittsburgh Pirates, 7-6, Saturday evening, but off the field managed to avoid an even bigger loss.
Giancarlo Stanton’s right wrist absorbed a 95-mph fastball in the first inning, and after wincing in obvious pain for a few minutes he left the game. X-rays were negative, and the Marlins consider Stanton dayto-day.
The Marlins don’t know when Stanton will return, but were relieved the news wasn’t Stanton said he didn’t have much range of motion due to the swelling.
“It ballooned up pretty quick,” manager Don Mattingly said. “The fact there’s no fracture just means there’s going to be some swelling, it’s going to be sore. How long that will be, that can be a few days, it can be a day, he could walk in here tomorrow and think he can play.”
Stanton, who has a long and well-documented injury hisworse.
tory, initially feared the worst.
“I thought it was snapped,” he said. “I had some weird sensations there, my hand going numb and stuff. I’m just glad it’s not broken.
“I’ve had my season taken away from me too many times for this crap to happen. It’s not taken away from me, but it’s a little speed bump.”
After losing Justin Bour to injury this week — and Martin Prado, Adeiny Hechavarria and Miguel Rojas last month — Stanton missing an extended period would be a blow to a Marlins lineup that has come on strong of late, sticking to what Mattingly praises as a consistent team-wide approach.
Without Stanton, the Marlins scored a bunch early and none late.
The Pirates took the lead for good with three runs in the seventh against righty David Phelps. Jordy Mercer sent a long fly ball to left-center and off the glove of a running Christian Yelich — who then crashed into the fence and fell to the ground — to tie the game. John Jaso’s ground-rule double down the right-field line put Pittsburgh ahead.
Yelich said he should have caught the game-tying hit.
“Got there in plenty of time,” he said. “Just clanked it.”
For Phelps, the part of the sequence that hurt most was a oneout walk to Elias Diaz, a 26-year-old catcher playing in his 16th major league game. Phelps had him 2-2, but Diaz fouled off a fastball inside before two more balls from Phelps.
“The walk is the bad one,” Phelps said. “That’s a guy right here that I have to make put the ball in play.”
Even early, the game was an offensive doozy. The starting pitchers, Miami’s Dan Straily and Pittsburgh’s Trevor Williams, each lasted only four innings after going seven in their previous outings.
Straily allowed four runs on nine hits and a walk, while the Marlins reached Williams — the pitcher who hit Stanton — for five runs on six hits.
“Plain and simple,” Straily said. “I just didn’t have it today.”
Lost in the loss is a handful of solid offensive performances. J.T. Realmuto went 3 for 4 with a homer, two doubles and three RBI. Marcell Ozuna and Derek Dietrich each had multihit games.
Dietrich homered immediately after Realmuto — the third time this year the Marlins went backto-back — and in front of family during a sentimental weekend in Pittsburgh. Dietrich’s grandfather, Steve Demeter, was a longtime Pirates employee. The Dietrich family obtained the ball from the fan who caught it as a keepsake.