The Fish had a chance to sweep the Orioles Thursday night as they wrapped up their series in Baltimore, and the men in teal wasted no time taking the lead off of O's starter Kevin Millwood.
Chris Coghlan doubled to lead off the first, Hanley Ramirez drove him in with an RBI single, and Dan Uggla made it 2-0 with a single that drove in Hanley. The Marlins added another run in the second when Ronny Paulino doubled, and scored on a double by Gaby Sanchez.
Nate Robertson was making the start for Florida, and all went well his first time through the lineup, as he tossed two scoreless innings.
And then the obligatory Robertson struggles began in the third.
The Orioles got six straight hits and three runs before Nate recorded the first out of the inning, and Adam Jones followed with a two-run double to give Baltimore a 5-3 lead.
Thus ended Nate's outing. After five runs on seven hits through 2.1 innings, Nate made the walk of shame off the mound, and it was bullpen time.
Alejandro Sanabia made his Big League debut in relief of Robertson, and did a good job, striking out both batters he faced to stop the bleeding. Sanabia went on to pitch a scoreless fourth, and the Marlins got back into the swing of things in the top of the fifth when Dan Uggla drove in his second run of the game to bring the Fish within a run.
Unfortunately, when the Marlins front office replaced Fredi Gonzalez, they neglected to replace the team's actual problem--the bullpen. And since Edwin Rodriguez could no more pitch innings six through eight than Fredi could, things deteriorated for the Marlins from from there.
The O's scored six runs off of the Fish pen, including two off of Sanabia, and three off of the latest call-up, James Houser, who made a less-than-inspiring 1.1 inning debut. Scott Strickland rounded off the sucky night for the bullpen by giving up an eleventh run to the Orioles in the bottom of the eighth, and the Marlins bats were held in check to preserve the victory for Baltimore.
Put away the brooms, everybody. The Marlins are still playing .500 ball, despite the answer to all their woes--a shiny new manager.