Sunday night in Arlington the Marlins rallied with two out in the top of the eighth to come from behind and take the series from the Texas Rangers, securing their second straight series win, and finishing off their first winning road trip since the end of May.
Javier Vazquez made the start for the Marlins and gave up 2 runs on six hits over six innings. The Rangers scored two runs on solo home runs by Nelson Cruz in the second inning and Adrian Beltre in the fourth, but Javy kept the Fish in the game with another solid start.
CJ Wilson, who was celebrating the announcement of his first nod to the All Star Game, was on the mound for Texas, and he essentially manhandled the Fish through seven innings. He gave up a run on an RBI single by Gaby Sanchez in the sixth, and the Fish were down 2-1 heading into the eighth inning.
Turns out the Marlins were merely waiting for the proper moment to strike. CJ gave up a leadoff double to Bryan Petersen in the top of the eighth, and Emilio Bonifacio's sac bunt moved him to third. That was the end of the line for Wilson, as Marke Lowe took over on the mound. With two out, Gaby Sanchez work a walk, and Hanley Ramirez reached on what was ruled a fielding error by Elvis Andrus, to score Petersen and tie up the game.
Logan Morrison was up next, and against gave the Marlins the lead with a 2-run double to right field. DeWayne Wise pinch-ran for LoMo, and scored on a single by Mike Stanton, to make it 5-2, Fish.
Texas would get a run back in the bottom of the inning on an RBI single by Adrian Beltre, but the Fish answered back in the top of the ninth with a run of their own. Wes helms walked to lead off the inning, and moved to second on a Brett Hayes sac bunt before Boni singled him home.
With a 6-3 lead to work with, Leo Nunez came in to close out the game. Naturally, he did it with his usual dramatic flair. He gave up a leadoff double to Nelson Cruz and a two-out RBI triple to David Murphy to bring the Rangers within two. But after getting the run out of his system, Leo recorded the final out, and the Fish took their second series in a row against a tough Texas team.