Marlins bats come alive, defeat Angels 8-5

That’s a nice start to a long home stand! The Marlins (17-29) beat the Angels (25-26) 8-5 in game one of a three-game set at Marlins Park.

After struggling to put runs on the board for an extended stretch, the Marlins have now scored eight or more runs in three of their last five games. They smacked 14 hits on the evening, including three home runs in the victorious effort.

After the Marlins fell behind 1-0 in the top of the first, they came roaring back in the bottom half of the inning with four runs. Dee Gordon led off with a single, before Giancarlo Stanton clubbed his 12th home run of the season to give the Marlins a 2-1 lead. Christian Yelich laced a double into right field, advanced to third on a fielding error, and scored on a fielder’s choice. J.T. Realmuto finished the first inning scoring with a solo home run into the right field seats. Dan Straily (W, 3-3) must have been smiling ear to ear.

The Marlins tacked on another run in the second inning when Jesse Chavez (L, 4-6) walked Marcell Ozuna with the bases loaded. Justin Bour helped provide the deciding three runs in the bottom of the sixth when he smashed a three-run homer. That round tripper was his 13th of the season.

After allowing one run in the first inning on a two-out double by Luis Valbuena, Straily settled down. He didn’t allow another run until the 6th inning when Martín Maldonado hit a two-run shot. He went 5.1 innings, allowing three runs on six hits and two walks, while striking out six. It was a good enough outing for Straily on a night where the offense gave him a large cushion to work with.

David Phelps and Nick Wittgren replaced Straily with 2.2 scoreless innings, but then Kyle Barraclough made it closer than it needed to be in the ninth inning. He allowed a home run and an RBI single to bring the Angels within three runs. Don Mattingly called on A.J. Ramos for a one-out save and he got Mike Trout to fly out to end the ballgame.

The Marlins had four batters with multi-hit games; Gordon, Stanton and Yelich all had three hits on the evening, while Bour had two. Derek Dietrich and Ozuna were the only Marlins regulars without a hit.

Here is the Fangraphs win expectancy graph.

Fangraphs

These two teams will be back in action tomorrow at 4:10 PM EST. It will be Justin Nicolino for the Marlins and JC Ramirez for the Angels.