Fish Wrap - Marlins 7, Rays 4

The Marlins were pumped that the Rangers had finally left town, and they celebrated well on Fiesta Friday by taking the fourth game of the Citrus Series against Tampa Bay.

Nate Robertson was on the mound for Florida, and put in a decent performance after struggling in the first. Nate gave up two runs in the opening frame when he put two men on with a single and a walk. Ben Zobrist doubled in both runners, and Tampa Bay had a two-run advantage going in to the bottom of the first.

The Rays wouldn’t hold their lead for long. The Fish scored five runs off of Matt Garza in the bottom of the first, four of those coming courtesy of a grand slam from Mike Stanton—the first long ball of Mikey’s Big League career. Coghlan doubled to lead off, Hanley Ramirez and Dan Uggla walked, and Coghlan scored when Cody Ross drew a bases loaded walk. Mike Stanton followed with his grand slam, and earned a standing ovation and curtain call from the occupants of Sun life Stadium.

In the second, the Fish added on when Coghlan doubled and Gaby Sanchez singled to put runners at the corners. RBI singles from Hanley and Uggs put the Marlins up 7-2, and concluded their scoring for the evening.

Robertson settled down after the first, and lasted through the sixth inning for the Fish, allowing just one more run. In relief of Nate, Scott Strickland made his first appearance since being called up on Friday, and seems to be quite prepared to emulate the rest of the Marlins bullpen when he gave up a run on two hits and a walk in just 2/3 of an inning. Tank was called on to get the last out of the inning, and Brian Sanches tossed a scoreless eighth to hold the score at 7-4.

Leo Nunez came and saved it with a one-two-three inning, three straight ground ball outs to preserve the win, and end the Marlins three-game losing streak.