Jankowski's clutch single sinks Marlins
Bases-loaded hit gives Padres win over shaken Straily.
Had Dan Straily
MIAMI — been wearing a Kevlar vest beneath his jersey, perhaps the hard blow to his chest might not have caused him and the Marlins so much harm. But Eric Hosmer’s 109.9 mph liner struck the defenseless pitcher like a missile.
After being knocked to his
knees, a shaken Straily somehow recovered and continued to pitch. But the Padres continued their assault on Straily with three runs in the first inning of an eventual 5-4 win Saturday at Marlins Park.
While the Marlins were able to recover from the early deficit and tie the score in the
sixth, Travis Jankowski’s twoout, bases-loaded single in the eighth off Drew Rucinski thwarted the comeback.
Straily somehow survived a rough first inning.
The second batter he faced, Hosmer, lined a shot that hit Straily directly in his chest. The pitcherfell to his knees and gasped for air. But the Marlins left him in and
the Padres ended up scoring three runs in the opening frame.
“It definitely took the wind out of me,” Straily said. “I felt myself kind of spinning
around. I think at first Iwas looking for the baseball at my
feet. Then I kind of started to lose my breath and I just went to the ground.”
Manager Don Mattingly and the Marlins’ training staff went out to check on Straily, who remained on his knees until he was able to regain his breath.
“He said, ‘Give me a sec
ond,’ ” said Mattingly, who was prepared to bring in Elieser Hernandez from the bullpen if Straily was unable to continue. “He was able to
hang in there.”
Said Straily: “When you get hit, it’s like you don’t remember it. You kind of have a quick, momentary blackout. Once we kind of
knew I would be able to continue, it was just a matter of regathering myself and kind of regathering my focus.”
The ball hit Straily in the ribs, just below his right breast, and left a large welt. Straily said he didn’t feel discomfort the rest of the time he was on the mound, but began to notice it after entering the clubhouse. He said X-rays came back negative.
Straily came out in the fourth after throwing 87 pitches, leaving behind a 4-1 deficit. But the Marlins rallied in the sixth when Derek Dietrich homered to start the inning and they added two more runs after Justin
Bour, the slowest runner on the team, barely legged out a double on a close play at second.
Bour ended up scoring on a wild pitch and the Marlins tied it on Miguel Rojas’ infield hit, which Padres second baseman Jose Pirela was unable to field cleanly.
The rally went for naught, though. After retiring the first two batters he faced, Rucinski gave up a double to
Manuel Margot and issued a pair of walks (one inten
tionally) before Jankowski drove in the deciding run
with a single.
Draft update: There is some feeling within the organization that of the 41 players chosen by the Marlins in this week’s amateur draft, the one who could be the first to reach the majors is righthanded pitcher Chris Valli
mont, their fifth-round pick. Vallimont whiffed 147 batters in 80⅓ innings for Mercyhurst (Pa.) College. The 21-year-old went 10-3 with a
2.58 ERA and throws a midto high-90s fastball.