Attendance: 33,165
Hero of the Game: Nathan Eovaldi (0.410 WPA)
Goat of the Game: Kevin Slowey and Adeiny Hechavarria (-0.117 WPA)
Play of the Game: Greg Dobbs advanced on a wild pitch. Rob Brantly scored. (0.186 WPA)
The Miami Marlins and Colorado Rockies seemed unable to score a run this afternoon for the longest time. Juan Nicasio of the Rockies and Nathan Eovaldi of the Marlins appeared to both be in control of the game. Nicasio dominated the FIsh through seven innings, striking out nine and shutting them out. Not to be outdone, Eovaldi struck out four with only two walks. He induced seven swings and misses in 67 pitches, putting him well on the way to an effective, good outing of strikeouts and decent control.
Well, at least until the rain.
A 93-minute rain delay slowed down both pitchers and forced the Fish and Rockies to use the bullpen. A few innings later, in the eighth inning, the cracks began to open.
The Marlins scratched out their first run with two outs in the eighth, when consecutive singles by Rob Brantly and Greg Dobbs led to a wild pitch that scored Brantly from third.
The ninth inning then brought more fireworks. The Fish opened with consecutive doubles by Christian Yelich and Giancarlo Stanton to take a 2-0 lead, then eventually scored three more runs on an RBI single by Ed Lucas and a two-run homer by Donovan Solano.
But the 5-0 lead was not safe until Steve Cishek was forced to enter the game. Kevin Slowey made it interesting by giving up three straight hits and letting two Rockies score. Cishek entered, allowed another run, but then induced a game-ending double play to clinch the four-game series for the Marlins.