Marlins’ Castro has 2nd 3-RBI day
Miami may be in basement but tops Cincinnati for eighth win in 11 games.
CINCINNATI — Maybe the Marlins aren’t as bad as everyone figured them to be.
Yes, they’re in last place. Yes, they have trouble scoring, lack a superstar presence, draw fleas for their home games and are on a 64-win pace.
But, after defeating the Reds on Sunday for their fourth straight series win, their record stood at 13-20 — the same record at the 33-game mark as the 2017 club that featured Giancarlo Stanton, Marcell Ozuna and everyone else who was peddled off over the winter. The latest triumph, a rain-interrupted 8-5 victory at Great American Ball Park, gave them eight victories in their past 11 games and consecutive series wins over the Dodgers, Rockies, Phillies and Reds.
TONIGHT’S GAME Marlins at Cubs, 8:05, FSN, 1230
While the Reds are no powerhouse — they and the Orioles are tied with the worst records in the majors — Marlins pitching contained them in a bandbox of a ballpark, holding them to nine runs in the three-game set. After scoring four runs off WeiYin Chen in the first inning of Friday’s game, the Reds went 18 innings before scor- ing again on Joey Votto’s tworun homer off Sunday starter Dan Straily in the third.
Straily received strong defensive help in the fourth. He walked two in that inning but worked out of trouble thanks to a diving catch by newly converted right fielder Brian Anderson and another lunging grab by first baseman Justin Bour on Jose Peraza’s inning-ending liner.
But it was only minor dam- age considering the Marlins scored four in the first before adding another in the second to give Straily a five- run cushion.
Straily was making his second start since returning from a monthlong stint on the disabled list, and it didn’t go a whole lot bet- ter than the first, when he labored through four innings. Four innings was all he managed Sunday, too, but Mother Nature was more of a factor than Straily’s pitching.
Rain hit after the fourth, causing a 73-minute delay, and when play resumed, both managers turned to their bullpens to carry them the rest of the way. Nick rero, chi Tazawa Wittgren, Kyle Barraclough, and Tayron Brad Ziegler Guer- Juniworked the final five innings for Miami. Straily’s lack of strike-zone command was an issue Sunday just as it was in his first outing of the season. Though he gave up only three hits, including the Votto oppo- site-field blast, he walked four, the same number as he allowed in his previous start. Offensively, Starlin Castro continued to come through at the plate. One day after driving in three runs with a home run and double, Castro drove in three more Sunday on a two-run single in the first and sacrifice fly in the second. Cameron Maybin drove in a pair of runs with a single and double while J.T. Real- muto with two walks. reached a single, base double four times and Meanwhile, Caleb Smith delivered another stellar outing Saturday night as the Marlins knocked off the Reds, 6-0. It was the third straight strong performance by Smith, whom the Marlins acquired from the Yankees in November for international bonus pool money. Over his past three starts, Smith has gone 2-0 with a 0.48 ERA. He has struck out 26 batters while walking two in 18⅔ combined innings. That contrasts to his first four starts with the Marlins when he averaged nearly a walk an inning. The sudden transformation has strengthened a starting rotation that was in sore need of a pitching boost.