Bour’s blunders costly to Marlins
First baseman boots ball, then snuffs rally with mistake on bases.
MILWAUKEE — The Marlins finally got the starting pitching performance they were hoping to get Sunday — and they still found a way to lose.
Rookie Caleb Smith struck out a career-high 10 batters and allowed only two runs on two hits in six innings. But the Marlins were unable to back him up enough offensively and committed more costly late miscues in a 4-2 loss to the Brewers at Miller Park. The Brewers (14-9) completed a fourgame sweep of the Marlins (5-16).
With Miami trailing by a run in the seventh, first baseman Justin Bour booted a grounder by Eric Thames that allowed a run to score to extend Milwaukee’s lead to 3-1. Bour then cut the deficit to one again with a single in the eighth. But on the
ensuing at-bat, Brian Anderson popped up to center for the second out. Bour ran on the play and ended up past second base and halfway to third, allowing the Brewers to double him up at first for the final out of the inning.
“On the pop-up, I saw the first baseman go behind so I’m thinking right there, two outs, that’s why he’s behind me and just mental lapse,” Bour said. “I would much rather go 0-for-4 with four strikeouts than commit an error and do something stupid on the bases. That leaves a terrible feeling in your stomach.”
With the margin for error seemingly so slim in the early going this season, the Marlins can’t afford to keep making such mistakes late in games as they did Sunday, just one day after a missed fly ball in the eighth inning by Derek Dietrich led to a 6-5 loss.
On Saturday night, an offensive outburst gave the Marlins a four-run early lead, but they saw it gradually evaporate until Jesus Aguilar homered off Junichi Tazawa in the bottom of the ninth to give the Brewers a comeback victory.
Barraclough was one out away from successfully protecting a 5-4 lead in the eighth before walking Travis Shaw and Eric Thames. The Brewers tied it when Dietrich failed to catch a pop up off the bat of Eric Sogard in left field, which allowed Shaw to score the tying run.
“I called the ball and I dropped it,” Dietrich said. “Unfortunately, that (stinks) because Jose (Urena) pitched well and (Barraclough) did his job so that one’s on me.”
On Sunday, Smith’s only big mistake was allowing a tworun homer to former Marlin Christian Yelich in the fourth inning, which gave Milwaukee a 2-1 lead.
While most of the Marlins’ rotation has run into trouble throwing too many pitches and not being able to stay in games past the fifth inning, Smith gave the Marlins a quality start. He threw 77 pitches during his six innings and was dramatically better than he had been away from Marlins Park this year.
Smith entered with a 13.50 ERA, seven strikeouts and 11 walks in 5⅓ previous road innings, but had a 3.48 ERA in 10⅓ innings pitched at home with 14 strikeouts and four walks.
Smith did not walk any batters Sunday. The Marlins’ bullpen has been taxed heavily through the season’s first three-plus weeks, making it challenging to keep guys fresh on a squad that put two relievers on the disabled list, Odrisamer Despaigne and Chris O’Grady, this past week. The good news is the Marlins’ most durable starter a year ago is closer to coming back.
Dan Straily, sidelined with a right forearm strain, will pitch Tuesday in another rehab start for Double-A Jacksonville and it could be his last before a return to the Marlins, possibly when they return home after the trip to Los Angeles. Straily’s 33 starts last season finished tied for the most in the National League.
Wei-Yin Chen, who has not pitched since last September and not started a game since May 1 of last season, shut out the St. Lucie Mets for five innings Sunday in a rehab start in Jupiter. He gave up two singles, struck out seven and did not walk a batter.