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The Miami Marlins picked up an important win over their Wild Card rivals, the Milwaukee Brewers, in tonight's contest, which is the first of a four-game series between the two teams. The Brewers once held the lead for the second Wild Card, but their tenuous hold slipped as they continued to fall in the standings. Meanwhile, the Marlins picked up another win and stayed pace with the Pittsburgh Pirates, who now own the lead.
Tonight's contest was a home run show, as the Fish launched three home runs. That included Giancarlo Stanton's 37th home run of the season, which also happened to be his 154th of his career, tying him for Dan Uggla's Marlins career record. Stanton's shot was the last of the three, and the Marlins got even more help early on. In the second inning, Marcell Ozuna and Garrett Jones hit back-to-back jacks to put the Fish up 3-2 early on. Later on in the second, Christian Yelich would single home Adeiny Hechavarria to make it 4-2. One inning later, Stanton led off the third with his solo home run and record-tying shot.
By the end of the third inning, Garrett Jones had doubled home another run to make it a 6-2 contest. It was a good day for Ozuna and Jones, both of whom had two hits and a homer to their names. They were two of four Marlins with two hits, as Hechavarria and Yelich also joined the party.
Meanwhile, Brad Penny had another ugly performance, but this time it did not lead to significant damage. He walked three batters and only struck out one in his six innings, but he and the Marlins held the Brewers to just two runs at the time. The Brewers did mount a comeback against A.J. Ramos, picking up two runs in the eighth inning. Steve Cishek shut the door in the ninth, however, with a strikeout of Ryan Braun and a nifty ground ball pickup for an easy 33rd save.
Source: FanGraphs
Attendance: 31,203
Hero of the Game: Garrett Jones (0.166 WPA)
Goat of the Game: A.J. Ramos (-0.072 WPA)
Play of the Game: Scooter Gennett doubled in the first inning. Carlos Gomez scored. (-0.127 WPA)