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Source: FanGraphs
Attendance: 28,750
Hero of the Game: Ed Lucas (0.359 WPA)
Goat of the Game: Donovan Solano (-0.206 WPA)
Play of the Game: Ed Lucas singled to center field in the ninth inning. Christian Yelich scored. Placido Polanco advanced to second base. (+0.444 WPA)
The Miami Marlins got a solid performance from Nathan Eovaldi in his duel with the Detroit Tigers' Anibal Sanchez, but Sanchez got the better of him and the Fish early. While Eovaldi whiffed five batters and walked two in six innings, Sanchez one-upped him by striking out eight Marlins in five innings and allowing just two hits. Sanchez was no-hitting the Fish through three innings before running into his first spat of trouble, but a Giancarlo Stanton double play ended the threat in the fourth.
Meanwhile, Eovaldi's night involved 10 swings and misses in 101 pitches and a good fastball for most of the outing. Eovaldi was throwing an average of 96.8 mph with a high of 99, but it was his slider that most effective at getting Tigers batters to miss. He got eight of his ten whiffs on the slider offering.
The Marlins made their move eventually in the ninth inning, when the team finally got some offense going. Singles by Christian Yelich and Stanton put runners at first and second with one out. It appeared as though the Marlins would walk off in dramatic fashion when Logan Morrison hit a 370-foot or so blast to deep right field, but it did not reach the home run porch and instead landed in a defender's glove. One batter later, it was Ed Lucas who delivered the heroic single that tied the game. With the bases loaded two batters later, Rob Brantly failed to deliver the winning run versus Detroit closer Joaquin Benoit.
One inning later, in the tenth, the Fish finished it off. Former Marlins minor leaguer Evan Reed lost control of the inning early by issuing two walks and a dangerous hit-by-pitch. Donovan Solano was beaned accidentally in the back of the helmet and went to one knee for a minute or two before walking off the field of his own volition. The Marlins replaced him with Placido Polanco.
Giancarlo Stanton came to the plate with the bases loaded and only one out, and he slapped a hard single up the middle that won the game for Miami. The Fish ensure a series win with a 2-1 victory.