Source: FanGraphs
Attendance: 25,690
Hero of the Game: Giancarlo Stanton (0.144 WPA)
Goat of the Game: Jacob Turner (-0.233 WPA)
Play of the Game: Yasiel Puig homered in the eighth inning. (-0.259 WPA)
The Miami Marlins and Los Angeles Dodgers were once again in a close game that was tied heading into the later innings. However, unlike last night's pitcher's duel, neither starter tonight played well. Jacob Turner had a repeat performance of his awful start in his last time out, as he once again failed to strike out a single batter and walked five (two intentional). Turner threw 36 balls versus just 10 called strikes, for a 3.6-to-1 ratio that is a complete, utter failure in terms of control. He also only induced five swings and misses in 81 pitches, all thrown in just five measly innings.
Turner's worst walk was during the fourth inning. He allowed two singles to start the inning, but the Fish wiped out runners with a double play. With the eighth hitter up, the Marlins intentionally walked Tim Federowicz to face Capuano at the plate. Unfortunately, Turner walked Capuano and that led to a barrage of ground balls in unfortunate places. Carl Crawford singled off of Turner's glove in the infield to score a run. Mark Ellis hit a ball up the middle that Adeiny Hechavarria barely got to and threw past Logan Morrison, resulting in two runs. Adrian Gonzalez sneaked a grounder past Donovan Solano to seal a four-run inning.
The Marlins did come back with two runs on three hits, but the team manufactured a first-and-third situation with two outs and Turner's spot up in the lineup. Miami opted to keep Turner's bat in the lineup so he could get one more inning, even though the situation was 2.5 times more important than the average plate appearance. The Fish failed to get another run until the sixth inning, but perhaps this non-move will be regrettable later.
The Marlins eventually could not hold the tie. Yasiel Puig, who entered the game the prior inning on a double switch, led the eighth inning off with a home run against Ryan Webb. This occurred even with Puig under fire for breaking a team rule and being fined by the Dodgers. The Dodgers scored an insurance run in the ninth as well, as Miami failed to capitalize on other opportunities and lost 6-4.