Source: FanGraphs
Attendance: 24,009
Hero of the Game (Largest WPA): Greg Dobbs (.046 WPA+)
Goat of the Game (Lowest WPA): Anibal Sanchez (-.301 WPA+)
Play of the Game: Angel Pagan doubled off Anibal Sanchez in the top of the sixth, scoring two Giants. (+.215 WPA)
The Marlins pitching staff couldn't control the Giants hitters on Thursday night. Even though Giancarlo Stanton and Greg Dobbs both had impressive offensive performances, the Miami pitchers never kept the game close. A wacky sixth inning broke open a low-scoring game in Miami.
Thursday's game between the Marlins and Giants is one which Marlins fans definitely want to forget about. Anibal Sanchez was in complete control until the sixth inning when it all fell apart for the twenty-eight year old right-handed pitcher. Thanks to a couple of defensive mistakes, and Mike Dunn continuing to struggle, the Marlins never really had a chance to catch up to San Francisco.
Giancarlo Stanton continued his recent hot streak, hitting his tenth home run in the second inning. He got a 2-1 fastball from Ryan Vogelsong and crushed it into the upper deck in left-center. In the month of May, Stanton has posted a 1.093 OPS. He's been so much fun to watch, especially after we suffered through watching him struggle early in the season.
In his first five innings, Anibal Sanchez struck out six Giants hitters, only walked one, and only given up one earned run. It appeared as if Sanchez was going to throw at least seven innings, which he had done in his last six starts.
To lead off the top of the sixth, Gregor Blanco displayed his speed, tripling past Greg Dobbs into left-center field. The next hitter, Melky Cabrera, grounded d back to the pitcher. Instead of making the easy play at first, Sanchez tried to pick Blanco off third. Blanco got back safely, and all of a sudden, the Giants had runners on first and third with nobody out. After a Buster Posey walk loaded the bases, Angel Pagan hit a first-pitch fastball into right field for an RBI double. With no help from the defense behind him, Sanchez was knocked out of the game after just 5.1 innings.
There's not much to say about Ryan Webb and Mike Dunn's outings. Neither pitcher could keep the Giants' hitters from collecting extra base-hits. In 2.2 combined innings of work, Webb and Dunn gave up seven runs, all earned. The Marlins offense hit enough to win on most days, tallying seven runs against the Giants pitchers. Giants’ lefty Javier Lopez gave up four earned runs in just one inning, but it wasn't enough to let the Marlins creep back into the game.
The Marlins play the Giants again on Friday at 7:10 PM ET. On the mound for the Giants will be the struggling two-time NL Cy Young award winner Tim Lincecum. For the Marlins, Josh Johnson will look to continue his recent success.