Two home runs from Stanton spark offense
Ozuna and Bour also go deep to back solid bullpen effort.
ST. LOUIS — Giancarlo Stanton connected on two homers. Marcell Ozuna and Justin Bour each slugged one. And yet, despite all that wallop, it was another stalwart performance by the Marlins’ taxed bullpen that preserved a 9-6 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals on Wednesday night.
On a night when the Marlins raced to a 7-0 lead before watching it slowly melt away, it was a weary relief corps that saved the day, working the final five innings after yet another Marlins starter came out early.
Over the past five games, the Marlins’ relievers have had to cover 23⅔ of the team’s 43 innings. Their ERA over that span: a sparkling 2.28. Manager Don Mattingly called on six relievers Wednesday to bail starter Edinson Volquez out after the big early lead began to vanish at Busch Stadium.
A pair of home runs by Stanton and another by Ozuna — with the blasts leaving each with 23 on the season — nearly went to waste when Volquez allowed the Cardinals to crawl back. When Volquez completed the fourth, it was 7-4 and his night was over.
Mattingly turned to his bullpen early, once again. During this five-game stretch, only one starter — Dan Straily — managed to make it past the fifth inning. And so the processional began with Dustin McGowan, who was followed by Jarlin Garcia, Drew Steckenrider, David Phelps, Kyle Barraclough and A.J. Ramos.
The Cardinals managed to score two runs off the pen in the sixth after Garcia walked a pair and rookie Steckenrider was brought in with the bases loaded. He gave up a two-run double to Tommy Pham.
But the Marlins gained breathing room in the ninth when Bour belted his 19th homer and first since June 19.
New view: Before he goes to bed at night, Stanton is able to look out the window of his digs in downtown Miami and spot the silhouette of the dancing lady on the side of the Intercontinental Hotel.
“Yeah, I see her jiggling her butt all the time,” Stanton said with a laugh.
When Stanton returns home from the road trip Sunday, though, the silhouette will be of him swinging a bat, not the anonymous girl going through her gyrations.
As part of All-Star Game festivities, the Intercontinental is replacing the dancing lady with a 19-story silhouette of Stanton doing what he does best — swing the lumber. The Stanton silhouette will be on display from Friday through Tuesday’s AllStar Game at Marlins Park.
“When I go home on Sunday, I should be able to see it from my place, which will be even more cool,” Stanton said.
The Intercontinental displayed the moving image of Stanton on its digital canvas for the first time Tuesday night as part of Fourth of July festivities. A test run, if you will.
“I saw some videos with the fireworks in the background and it was really cool,” Stanton said. “They sent me a really cool silhouette of just the skyline and the fireworks and everything. Definitely looks really awesome.”
Stanton said doing the shoot to create the moving silhouette was “less work than hitting in the cage. Just dry swinging and a couple of different angles. It was pretty easy, pretty simple.”