Heroes And Zeroes: Marlins 14, Red Sox 6

Heroes and Zeroes is a series of articles where I use the Wins Probability Added (WPA) metric available at www.fangraphs.com to sort out who made the most impact on the game based on the situation at the time of their plate appearance. They are ranked from highest weighted impact to the most negative. The top three are Heroes, the bottom three, Zeroes.

Heroes

JT Realmuto (MIA) .328

Realmuto batted sixth for the Marlins, and hit an RBI triple in his first time up to give Miami a 2-1 lead (+16.2%). He then grounded out to shortstop with a man on second to end the third (-1.6%). In the sixth, he came to bat twice, first hitting an RBI single with two on and no out (+17.3%) to retake the lead for good, then later, he encored with a two-out Grand Slam (+0.9%) for the Marlins' 11th, 12th, 13th, and 14th runs of the night. He struck out swinging to end the Marlins' eighth (-0.0%).

David Ortiz (BOS) .220

Ortiz started the Red Sox second with a truly mammoth home run into the second deck of right field (+11.2%) to tie the game at one. In the fourth, he hit a no out single to center with a man on first (+9.5%). In the sixth he led off with a walk (+5.3%) before Kyle Barraclough struck out the side. His two-out, two-run homer in the seventh (+0.1%) did little to impact the outcome of the game.

Xander Bogaerts (BOS) .155

Bogaerts, Boston's lefty-killing shortstop, batted third for the Sox. He hit into an inning-ending double play in the first (-4.9%), singled to center to lead off the fourth (+3.7%), hit a two-out RBI double to right in the fifth (+16.7%), then struck out in each of his last two at bats, to Chris Narveson in the seventh (-0.0%) and to Brian Ellington in the ninth (-0.1%).

Almost Heroes

Cole Gillespie (MIA) .126

Bryce Holt (BOS) .120

Dee Gordon (MIA) .110

Ichiro Suzuki (MIA) .102

Adeiny Hechavarria (MIA) .068

Justin Bour (MIA) .034

Minimal Impact

Alejandro De Aza (BOS) .001

Chris Narveson (MIA) .001

Tom Layne (BOS) .000

Travis Shaw (BOS) .000

Brian Ellington (MIA) .000

Casey McGehee (MIA) -.007

Robbie Ross Jr. (BOS) -.008

Pedro Sandoval (BOS) -.010

Jackie Bradley Jr. (BOS) -.016

Almost Zeroes

Derek Dietrich (MIA) -.031

Ryan Cook (BOS) -.037

Martin Prado (MIA) -.044

Kyle Barraclough (MIA) -.050

Blake Swihart (BOS) -.062

Mookie Betts (BOS) -.078

Zeroes

Rusney Castillo (BOS) -.108

Boston's $72 million right fielder batted fifth in the order, and singled to center field right after David Ortiz' second inning home run (+3.8%). In the fourth with no outs and runners at the corners, he left the bases empty by hitting into a run-scoring double play (-9.0%), then struck out swinging with two runners in scoring position to end the fifth (-5.7%). He grounded out to shortstop to end the Red Sox' seventh inning (-0.0%).

Adam Conley (MIA) -.138

Conley, making his second big-league start, was good for the first four innings, allowing two earned runs. It all came apart in the fifth, though. He ended his night with four earned runs scored on eight hits and a walk, and struck out three Red Sox.

Eduardo Rodriguez (BOS) -.675

Rodriguez pitched five innings for Boston, and allowed Miami's first eight runs on a walk and nine hits. He struck out two.

The Marlins get a night off now, and travel to St. Louis for a three-game series starting on Friday.