Source: FanGraphs
Attendance: 27,097
Hero of the Game: Logan Morrison (0.147 WPA)
Goat of the Game: Chad Qualls (-0.280 WPA)
Play of the Game: Josh Harrison homered in the ninth. (-0.383 WPA)
The Miami Marlins got an excellent performance from Henderson Alvarez and picked up eight hits within the first three innings of the game. This description makes it sound like the Fish should have picked up a win, but Alvarez's one poor inning and a series of struggles with runners on base led the Fish to an eventual 4-3 loss.
Alvarez posted a season-high six strikeouts in six innings with no walks, putting up an overall good performance. Alvarez got eight swings-and-misses in 90 pitches, and for five of the six innings, he cruised, throwing out four of his six strikeouts and allowing just two of his six hits. But Alvarez's third ining was the one that got to him. They got two outs before allowing a single to Neil Walker before allowing a double to Andrew McCutchen and a triple to Pedro Alvarez. Those two hard-hit balls were the best hits of the night for the Pirates until the ninth.
Meanwhile, the offense was racking up singles in the early innings. In the second inning, the Fish loaded the bases with no one out on three straight singles, two of which were infield hits. The Marlins came away with only one run. In the following inning, the team had singles from Ed Lucas, Giancarlo Stanton, and Logan Morrison (his came off a drive off the wall) to score one run. Donovan Solano then singled home another run, as the team ended the third with three runs and eight hits.
After that, however, the Marlins forced only two hits and two walks in the remaining six innings, and that sealed their fate. While both teams failed to score, it was Josh Harrison who sealed the game with a ninth inning homer off of Mike Dunn to take the first game of the series.