José Ureña goes eight strong innings, while Brian Anderson and Lewis Brinson supply the offense.

José Ureña: 8.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 4 K

Kevin Gausman: 5.2 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 3 BB, 7 K

The Marlins needed a long outing from José Ureña tonight and thats exactly what they got. Ureña pitched a season high eight innings on 112 pitches. His stuff was working tonight and over powered a weak Orioles lineup. Ureña only gave up three hits, and while he did not get a lot of run support, he made sure anything supplied would be enough.

Kevin Gausman was on the mound for the Orioles and was able to keep the Fish at bay for most of the game. There were a few opportunities where the Fish could of scored some runs, but could not execute. The first two innings of the game were good examples of this, but Gausman was able to slip out of both jams. Gausman walked a fine line all night and it was not until the fifth inning, when the Fish finally struck.

Miguel Rojas started the inning off with a double. This set up the hottest Marlins hitter, Brian Anderson to bring Rojas home. He accomplished this with a swiftly hit ground ball between third and shortstop. The one run would prove to be enough to win the game, but The Fish were not done scoring yet.

The Fish would come back with a bit more offense in the sixth inning. J.T. Riddle with two outs singled on a sharp hit grounder to center field. Lewis Brinson would follow this up with a triple, making the game 2-0 Fish. That was Brinson’s second triple of the game, showing off his bat and speed once again. Brinson has six RBI’S in the last seven games, the prospect from last year is finally showing up again.

The Marlins did not only have strong pitching going for them, they also had great defense. Ureña had two men on with no outs in the seventh inning when he induced a 6-4-3 double play. He struck out the next batter to end the inning and avoided giving up any runs.

There were some great defensive plays by both Starlin Castro and Miguel Rojas as well. Speaking of Rojas he was taken out of the game after being hit by a pitch on the hand, which ricocheted into his cheek. The x-rays came back negative, he is day to day with a hand contusion.

The offense was not as booming as it has been in the past few days, but the Fish made up for that in other aspects of the game. Starting pitching was strong and defense backed it up well. Kyle Barraclough closed out an easy ninth inning, giving the Fish another well earned victory.

Courtesy of Fangraphs

Swordfish: José Ureña (.554 WPA).

Flounder: Danny Valencia (-.259).

Play of the game: Brian Anderson’s RBI single.

Attendance: 23,968

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Matchup Summary:

The Marlins are set to face the Baltimore Orioles tonight. The Fish are coming off a grueling 16 inning loss to the Giants. The bullpen will be thin tonight, with five relievers and Elieser Hernandez pitching yesterday. The Fish were able to go positive on their home stand with a 4-3 record, so thats a good thing.

The Orioles have a significantly worse record than the Fish. They are also currently on a seven game losing streak. Kevin Gausman will be on the mound for them tonight. He has not had great results this season, posting a 4.58 earned run average.

The Fish have José Ureña pitching tonight. The offense has been hot as of late for the Fish. This should give Ureña the kind of run support he has been missing all season. The last seven days have been fun for the Fish and hopefully that continues tonight.

Thread Question: Brian Anderson batting second, is that the ideal spot for him or would you rather him be moved in the batting order?