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Dbacks 4, Marlins 0: Painful afternoon results in 50th loss of the season

Early hiccups by Trevor Richards and his teammates couldn’t push across any run support.

By Ely Sussman Updated
MLB: Arizona Diamondbacks at Miami Marlins Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports

The Marlins’ season series against the Arizona Diamondbacks wrapped up on Thursday afternoon, and thank goodness for that. Zack Greinke escaped a few jams and helped his own cause with the Fish on the wrong end of the 4-0 final score. They went 1-6 overall against the Dbacks in 2018.

  • Trevor Richards: 4.0 IP, 6 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 3 K (75 pitches)
  • Zack Greinke: 7.0 IP, 7 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 6 K (103 pitches)

Although generally a reliable strike-thrower, Richards had another challenging first inning. He has issued eight of his 22 total walks in first innings, including one to Arizona that contributed to an early 2-0 deficit. Paul Goldschmidt stretched it to 3-0 with a two-out hit in the second.

Richards settled down from there, but teammate—and trade chip—Derek Dietrich had a scary incident in the third inning trying to chase down a fly ball in foul territory. After being examined by Don Mattingly and the training staff, he stayed in for the rest of the game.

We warned you pre-game about Greinke’s ability at the plate! Sure enough, he extended his hitting streak to four games, scored a run and drove in another to add some insurance for the Dbacks.

On the mound, Greinke was equally sharp. Keep in mind, the Marlins had scored at least a run in every game dating back to late May (34 straight). But the expensive veteran certainly justified his contract in this matchup, attacking the strike zone and creatively mixing his pitches.

The top of the lineup nearly broke through in the seventh with fairly deep fly balls. Unfortunately, that’s not gonna do much damage at Marlins Park unless you really get the barrel on it.

Brian Anderson’s NL-best 24-game on-base streak ended with an 0-for-4 effort. That shouldn’t stop you from voting for him!

Thankfully, there’s a thrilling weekend on tap with Sandy Alcántara and Pablo López scheduled to makes their Marlins MLB debuts against the slumping Mets.

June 28 win probability chart
Courtesy of FanGraphs

Attendance: 12,715

Please leave any Icthy picks in the comments below. Remember, we introduced a new grand prize for the contest this season!

Today's Lineups

ARIZONA DIAMONDBACKS MIAMI MARLINS
Jon Jay - RF Derek Dietrich - LF
Paul Goldschmidt - 1B Brian Anderson - RF
Jake Lamb - 3B Justin Bour - 1B
David Peralta - LF Starlin Castro - 2B
Daniel Descalso - 2B JT Riddle - SS
Nick Ahmed - SS Miguel Rojas - 3B
Jarrod Dyson - CF J.B. Shuck - CF
Jeff Mathis - C Bryan Holaday - C
Zack Greinke - RHP Trevor Richards - RHP

7/6/18 Probable Starters

Name Team IP ERA FIP K/9 fWAR
Name Team IP ERA FIP K/9 fWAR
Dan Straily Marlins 59.1 4.70 5.87 7.89 -0.5
Gio González Nationals 90.2 3.77 3.92 8.54 1.1
FanGraphs

Matchup Summary

The Marlins extended several impressive streaks on Wednesday night: 24 games reaching base safely for Brian Anderson, 14 2⁄3 scoreless innings for Drew Steckenrider, and 34 games without being shut out.

But they weren’t able to produce enough offensively to start a new winning streak, losing 2-1 to the Diamondbacks and wasting a solid outing by Wei-Yin Chen.

J.T. Realmuto (wrist) has been absent from the starting lineup throughout this series, and that will continue Thursday. Fortunately, he should be available off the bench and expects to be ready for Friday.

It’s been a fairly typical year for Arizona’s Zack Greinke except for the bloated home run rate (16 HR in 96.0 IP). Also worth noting: during a season in which pitchers have hit worse than ever, Greinke is a legitimate threat at .259/.333/.370.

First pitch from Trevor Richards at about 12:10pm.

Thread Question: Exactly halfway through the regular season, the Marlins are on pace to go 64-98. Would you bet on them finishing better or worse than that?

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