Marlins swept by St. Louis

After yet another deflating loss, the Marlins hoped to turn things around tonight and salvage a game of the three game set against the Cardinals. The roof was open tonight in Marlins park, and the opening of the game could hardly have gone better for the Fish.

Tom Koehler got the start, and was dealing. His fastball was moving and he was hitting corners while mixing in a sharp slider on his way to striking out the side. He would go on to strike out his first four batters.

In the bottom half, the Marlins jumped on Lynn early via the long ball. After two outs were recorded, Christian Yelich started the scoring in the first inning with a high, arching, 442 foot homer to center field to give the Marlins a 1-0 lead. Marcell Ozuna walked, then Giancarlo Stanton roped a line drive single with a 115 mph exit velocity to put two on with two out. Justin Bour sent a 2-2 changeup to the seats in right for a three run shot to give Miami a 4-0 lead after one.

St. Louis came back in the top of the third, loaded the bases via two walks and a hit batter. With two outs, Koehler fell behind 2-0 to Jedd Gyorko and grooved a fastball which was lined to right, scoring two. Yadier Molina hit a grounder up the middle to plate a third run to end the scoring for the inning.

The Marlins bullpen gave up their seventh lead of the year in the sixth inning, when St. Louis put up another crooked number against Koehler and rookie lefty Jarlin Garcia. The biggest dagger being a triple to center field by Dexter Fowler. He would later come in on a sac fly by Kolten Wong.

Tonight’s Marlins game won’t go down as an example of pitching efficiency. Lance Lynn and Tom Koehler both labored through their starts at least in part to patient batters on both sides who had plenty of quality at bats. Koehler lasted 5+ innings, throwing 99 pitches while Lynn was gone after 5 innings.

After the bullpens fully took over, the Marlins and Cardinals traded runs with Derek Dietrich singling in a run in the bottom of the sixth, only for the Cardinals to get it back in the top of the seventh against Junichi Tazawa.

In the ninth, a leadoff double by Yelich was followed by an excellent at bat by Marcell Ozuna who battled for a walk off of closer Seung Hwan Oh. As is typical these days, the heartbreaking Marlins had their rally stifled when Giancarlo Stanton grounded into a double play. After an intentional walk to Justin Bour put the tying run on base, MLB vet and recent Marlins call-up Steve Lombardozzi would ground back to the pitcher to end the game. The final score was 7-5, Cardinals.

The Cardinals swept the three game set, giving the Marlins their eighth loss in ten games, dropping them seven under .500, at 13-20 for the year.

The Marlins mercifully have Thursday off, and start a three game set against the Braves on Friday when Jose Urena will try to stop the bleeding once again in his second start of the year.

Until then, let’s hope the Marlins can take a breather and start anew. This has been a tough week, with many lost leads and missed opportunities.

Fish Bites:

• This was the Cardinals 9th straight road win.
• Christian Yelich had two extra base hits tonight for the Fish
• Did we mention this was the seventh time this season that the bullpen blew a lead? Oh yeah, we did.

fangraphs.com

High Water Mark: The Justin Bour home run all the way in the first inning.

Turning Point: The two-run Dexter Fowler triple

Flounders: Marlins pitchers

At least Marlins Man was enjoying himself.....