Realmuto’s four RBIs lift Marlins
Marlins use 5-run sixth, 3-run seventh to hold off Rays.
ST. PETERSBURG — J.T. Realmuto drove in four runs, Giancarlo Stanton hit a tworun double in Miami’s fiverun sixth inning, and the Marlins beat the Tampa Bay Rays 10-6 on Wednesday night.
St anton’s hit c apped a stretch of seven consecutive hits, including Realmuto’s two-run single and an RBI single by Christian Yelich, off reliever Austin Pruitt (3-1) to start the sixth.
Realmuto added a two-run triple during Miami’s threerun seventh inning, helping the Marlins to a 10-5 lead.
Marcell Ozuna hit a homer estimated at 468 feet for the Marlins, who had lost six of seven.
Adam Conley (2-2) allowed five runs and five hits in 51/3 innings for the win.
Ta mpa B ay go t a s o l o homer from Daniel Rob - ertson. Blake Snell struck out nine in five innings and allowed t wo runs and six hits. The left-hander has gone five innings or fewer in five straight starts, and nine of his last 10.
Rickie Weeks, who entered 0 for 13 with nine strikeouts with runners in scoring position, had an RBI double and Kevin Kiermaier, mired in an 1-for-38 slump, added a tworun single to put the Rays up 3-0 in the second inning.
Ozuna hit a drive off a banner hanging above the left-field upper deck in the fourth, and Adeiny Hechavarria tacked on an RBI dou- ble to get Miami within one. Ozuna has hit in all 20 games he has played against the Rays.
Robertson responded with a leadoff home run to center in the bottom half.
Miami’s Miguel Rojas had four hits, and Hechavarria had three. The pair combined for five runs scored.
Trainer’s room
Rays: Evan Longoria went 0 for 4 with a ninth-inning sacrifice fly as the designated hitter after sitting out two games with a sore left foot. Manager Kevin Cash hasn’t ruled out Longoria playing third base tonight. ... Tampa Bay recalled Jose Alvarado from Double-A to fill the lefthanded reliever role vacated by the injured Xavier Cedeno (left forearm tightness). Up next
Marlins: RHP Dan Straily (1-2) will take the hill in the series finale tonight. He has struck out 29 and walked 12 over 26 innings this season.
Rays: RHP Matt Andriese (1-1), tonight’s starter, has allowed 21 homers over 902/3 innings since the 2016 AllStar break.
Volquez lands on DL: The thumb blister that ended Edinson Volquez’s outing Tuesday night has landed him on the disabled list.
The Marlins placed the veteran starting pitcher on the 10-day DL Wednesday and recalled reliever Nick Wittgren from Triple A New Orleans.
Volquez, who has gone 0-4 with a 4.71 ERA through six starts (282/3 innings) in his first season with the Marlins, will miss his next scheduled start Sunday in New York.
The Marlins are hopeful he can return by his next scheduled turn in the rotation, which would be May 13 at home against the Braves.
“It’s not the first time I’ve had t hi s , ” Vol quez s a i d. “They decided to give me more time to recover.”
It’s the first time Volquez has been placed on the disabled list since 2009, when he underwent Tommy John surgery.
Marlins manager Don Mattingly has not named a starter for Sunday’s game, but mentioned it could be either Jose Urena making a spot start or someone from the minors the team would call up. is up to bat in the fifth inning checks the box for all three.
The anthem is sung primarily by The Animals of Section B, the assorted collec tion of die -hard Seminole baseball fans whose sole mission is to make Dick Howser Stadium one of college baseball’s most intimidating venues.
Shannon Thomas, who is the “zookeeper” of the Animals of Section B, said the group began singing “O Canada” in 1988 when the Winter Olympics were being held in Calgary.
“It was just watching the Olympic s ever y day and hearing the anthem every day,” said Thomas, a 1999 FSU graduate who joined the group in 2000. “It was in their minds. (FSU) was losing and they thought, ‘Hey. Let’s hum the Canadian national anthem.’ And they won, and it’s been a tradition ever since.”
It’s become more than a tradition. Singing “O Canada” has become a full-on performance like no other.
The Animals sit in a section of Howser more than 20 rows behind the FSU dugout. Before they start singing, they unfurl a massive Canadian flag, which is held by two people while the rest of the group waves smaller Canadian flags.
So, what’s it like to be an opposing Canadian player h e a r i n g y o u r n a t i o n a l anthem in Florida, of all places?
“Every time we come up to FSU, it’s something I think about,” said Stetson junior Ben Onyshko, who is from Winnipeg. “I tell guys to wait for the fifth inning and they’ll see. It’s definitely unique.”
Onyshko said he first heard the Animals sing “O Canada” when he was a freshman. He didn’t realize it was a tradition but initially thought FSU’s fans were playing mind games because he’s Canadian.
FSU was up 1-0 when Onyshko, who was a relief pitcher at the time, took the mound in the bottom of the fifth. Minutes after the anthem was sung, he surrendered a walk, a balk and a double and only faced two batters. He was shortly pulled in favor of another pitcher.
“I was on the mound and had no clue what was going on. I was totally rattled,” Onyshko recalled. “I thought they knew I was Canadian and their fans were messing with me.”
But that’s not to say he didn’t appreciate hearing the anthem.
“It was cool to be surprised by it,” he said. “I had no idea the first time it was going to happen. Afterward, I had a few of the older guys tell me. I think they were keeping it a secret because they knew it was coming.”
While the song might surprise Canadian visitors, it’s become one of the more familiar aspects of a game at Howser — nearly 30 years after the tradition began.
Thomas said the Animals have received several Canada-centric gifts from people over the years. The family of one of FSU’s bullpen catchers sent the group a bag of the small Canadian flags they currently use. A married couple, who are FSU alums living in South Carolina, gave the group the big flag they frequently display.
And then there’s the latest twist: Now the group has someone who dresses as a member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police — otherwise known as a “Mountie” — while they sing.
The Mountie is actually John Viele, who graduated from FSU in 1988. Viele wears a Mountie T-shirt, much like a tuxedo T-shirt, a pair of black pants and a brown ranger hat to complete the look.
Viele, during the anthem, holds a salute while singing “O Canada” with the rest of the Animals.
“Well, there’s a lot of yuks, but I’ve heard some pretty positive feedback,” Viele said of the costume. “I heard (FSU baseball coach Mike Martin’s wife, Carol) was pretty happy with it. I actually had someone come up and thank me for doing it.”