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The Marlins' bullpen faltered, leading to another late inning collapse. The Fish weren't able to suppress the surging Pirates in a 5-2 defeat.
Miami jumped out to an early 1-0 lead in the top of the 2nd inning, off of a Justin Bour solo homer to right center, his 3rd on the season. Bour continues his production, in spite of the injury to Michael Morse, who was placed on the 15-day DL yesterday. He's hitting .368, and currently holds the highest average of any Marlin who plays semi-regularly.
The Fish would add to their lead in the top of the 7th, with a Christian Yelich solo homer to right, his 2nd of the season. This solo shot also came off of Pirates' starter Gerrit Cole, who went 7 IP, striking out 7, while allowing only 2 runs off 7 hits. Earlier in the game, Yelich had another bomb robbed from getting out of the park, in the top of the 2nd inning. Starling Marte of the Pirates made an outstanding catch at the wall, to take away what would have been the second home run of the 2nd inning for Marlins.
Miami seemed to be in good condition for most of the game, until the 7th inning. Brad Hand went 5 strong innings, giving up 4 hits and no runs. Bryan Morris would come in his relief in the 6th inning, allowing one hit but no runs.
It wasn't until the 7th inning when things began to get ugly. Jennings made the call to bring in Mike Dunn for Bryan Morris. Dunn would only get through 2 outs, allowing 2 earned runs. Josh Harrison singled to right, scoring Chris Stewart. The game evened up on a Pedro Alvarez RBI single to center, scoring Jose Tabata. Sam Dyson came in to relieve Dunn, but he added fuel to the fire. He let in 3 more Pittsburgh runs: a bases-loaded walk, and a two-run RBI single to center for Jung Ho Kang. Carter Capps would be needed to get the team out of the jam.
However, the damage was too great, and the Marlins' bats could not generate any runs in the 8th or 9th innings. Gerrit Cole would receive the victory (7-2), while Sam Dyson would be handed the defeat (2-2).
Source: FanGraphs
Hero of the game: Brad Hand (+.290)
Goat of the game: Sam Dyson (-.626)
Play of the game: Pedro Alvarez RBI single to center (+.243)