This recap should prove interesting especially since I didn't see one second of the game. I had a previous engagement and stuff. Fortunately, GameFish sent me texts to keep me to up to date, which I really appreciated, but whether or not they took hold we will soon find out.
So to the box score, we go.
Early on it was pitching duel, meaning who could get in the most trouble and somehow find their way out of it. I will have to give Jaime Garcia credit, he found himself in huge jams and somehow kept the Marlins from scoring. But the stranded runners and the number of pitches chased him after five innings. Getting him out of the game didn't bother me in the least.
Anibal Sanchez did a much better job, in that, after the third inning he didn't allow a hit. Oh, sure, his giving up bases on balls happened after the third, but hey, it wasn't a problem. Anibal was dealing and the Cardinals were coming up craps. Nothing like mixing betting metaphors.
Once Garcia hit the pine, the Marlins started hitting the relievers with abandon. Blake Hawksworth took the mound in the sixth, fooling next to no one, Chris Coghlan and Hanley Ramirez were able to drive in a run each and the Marlins were finally on the board. As it turned out that is all the Marlins would need to win the game.
But why stop there? Dan Uggla went yard for a solo shot in the seventh and Cameron Maybin decided to follow suit in the same inning. Needless to say, it wasn't Hawksworth's night. Which was just fine by all Marlins and Reds fans. Speaking of Reds fans, they are talkative bunch when commenting on the game. Nothing wrong with that, but it was just a little surprising to see them in attendance.
In the eighth, Clay Hensley came in relief and decided to give himself a challenge by walking the first two batters. But fortunately he was up to the task and left the inning with the shutout in tack.
Danny and Cody Ross, seeing that the bullpen was thinking about putting the excitement back into the game, decided that maybe the Marlins needed another run. So Danny hit a double and Cody followed with a ground rule double (actually I think it is called a scorebook double, officially. But be that as it may.) to plate Danny. It wasn't needed.
Burke Badenhop came on to pitch the ninth and promptly gave up two hits to give the Cardinals their only run of the game. Afterwards, he found command of his sinker and got out of the inning giving the Marlins the win.
Whether or not anything I have written happen in the sequence that it is written, I'm not sure. But really it doesn't matter, what matters is the Marlins won the first game of the series.