Stanton leads with bat, arm
MIAMI — Giancarlo Stanton is back to performing mythical feats.
The Marlins’ slugger showed that in more ways than one Wednesday in a 4-3 victory against the Diamondbacks at Marlins Park.
Stanton not only launched a towering tworun home run, but more impressive may have been the throw he uncorked from the wall in right field in the sixth inning.
The strike he threw to second on one hop after taking the ca rom barehanded off the fence cut down Arizona’s Yasmany Tomas attempting to stretch a single.
Tomas was ruled safe, but the call was overturned on a Marlins challenge. The review took only 34 seconds as the replay showed Tomas was out with room to spare.
“Every body wants to talk about the home runs because it’s kind of fun to see balls go that far,” Marlins manager Don Mattingly said. “Obviously, that’s real. But what I’ve seen all along is, this guy is a good defender. He throws well, he gets to balls. This is a wellrounded player. It’s not just a home-run hitter. It’s a guy that can play both sides of the ball, and he takes pride in it. He works at it every day.”
Stanton’s ninth homer, in the third inning, was measured at 436 feet by Statcast. But that doesn’t account for the height. Stanton reached for a low fastball from Rubby De LaRosa and sent it on a high arc into the open alley beyond the wall in center.
It was the sixth homer in nine games of a bona fide Stanton homer binge that helped lift the Marlins to their ninth win in 10 games and the third in a row at home.
“It’s been great. We’ve been having a great time,” Stanton said amid the cloud from another fog machine celebration in the clubhouse. “Everyone is contributing too, that’s the best part of it. We’ve got to keep it going.” All of Stanton’s efforts — earlier he lined a double off the wall in leftcenter and scored the first run — were needed on a night Jose Fernandez wasn’t at his best.
So was a superlative effort by the bullpen. Relievers Jose Urena, Bryan Morris, Kyle Barraclough and A.J. Ramos shut out the Dbacks over the final four innings. Ramos earned his ninth save in nine chances with a 1-2-3 ninth, including two strikeouts.
Fernandez (3-2) got the win but lasted only five innings, allowing three runs and six hits. He had runners on base in every inning while throwing 99 pitches before leaving with a 4-3 lead.
“Incredible. Our bullpen has been great, man,” Fernandez said. “They’re doing an amazing job. That’s what it takes for a team to play the way we’re playing.”
The first inning has been Fernandez’s stumbling block. He allowed two runs in the first inning of his previous two outings, and had a 9.00 ERA in opening frames this season.
Fernandez made quicker work of the first this time, thanks to J.T. Realmuto throwing out Jake Lamb stealing after a one-out single. He struck out the other two D-backs, including blowing 99-mph heat past Goldschmidt.
But he was up to 45 pitches by the end of the second inning due to frequently falling behind in counts.
Fortunately for Miami, there was a lot of help behind him.