Marlins pitching hammered by Rockies

Ah, the time has come. The Marlins last road game of the year.

For the Rockies, the game had postseason implications, as they entered today with a 1.5 game lead over the Brewers for the final wild card spot with four games to play. For the Fish, it was all about playing spoiler.

Well, as it turned out, the Marlins weren’t going to spoil much of anything today except their fans’ Wednesday afternoon. Today saw Miami run out a series of pitchers with ERAs over five at Coors Field against a motivated team playing a meaningful game. The results were fairly predictable.

The Rockies jumped on Adam Conley early, scoring six runs over 1.1 innings. Most notable was a three-run shot to right field by Ian Desmond.

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Other unfortunate pitching performances included Junichi Tarawa, who allowed three runs in the fourth, and Brian Ellington, who threw in the high 90s as usual, but walked three and gave up five runs in only ²⁄₃ of an inning.

The Marlins offense was highlighted by an A.J. Ellis two-run homer in the fourth inning, his sixth of the year. Dee Gordon also added two hits to raise his average to .305 for the season.

Entering the ninth, the score was 15-5 in favor of the Rockies, but the Fish scored four runs in the frame to make it seem like a closer game than it was. Four consecutive doubles by Derek Dietrich, Ellis, Miguel Rojas and Brian Anderson chased reliever Jeff Hoffman and brought the Marlins within seven runs. Tyler Moore then singled to score another run before Pat Neshak came in to shut the door and end the lopsided affair.

When the dust cleared, the Rockies won 15-9 to take the three-game, thereby dropping their magic number to three.

The Fish (74-84) kick off a four-game set tomorrow against the Braves at Marlins Park to mark the end of the 2017 season, and the Jeffrey Loria era.

fangraphs.com

King Fish: Charlie Blackmon, who got his 100th RBI of the season. Pretty remarkable for a lead off hitter!

Flounder: A dud of a start by Adam Conley

Turning Point: The Ian Desmond homer in the second inning which opened the flood gates.