Marlins Wallop the Cardinals, 11-3

After the bats woke up in St. Louis on Tuesday in a 7-4 over the Cardinals, the offense exploded on Wednesday night as the Marlins topped the Cardinals 11-3. It was the best offensive night of the season for the Fish as they recorded 11 runs, 17 hits, and 3 home runs. They now look to sweep the Red Birds in Busch Stadium today at 1:15. That is just a beautiful sentence to type.

Wei-Yin Chen and Jack Flaherty were the starters last night and they kept the game scoreless through three innings. The Marlins struck first with a Starlin Castro lead-off single. Derek Dietrich knocked his 7th homerun of the season at the next at bat and set the tone for the rest of the game. JT Realmuto would then double later in the third inning. Justin Bour would push him to third base on an infield single. Brian Anderson lopped a groundball back to Flaherty, but the pitcher was unable to get the ball back to home as Realmuto smacked the plate.

The Cardinals would attempt a comeback against Chen. They got an RBI double from Jose Martinez in the bottom of the third and a sacrifice fly from Yairo Munoz in the bottom of the fourth. With the game still very much a toss-up going into the 5th, the scorching-hot Brian Anderson would score Dietrich on an RBI double. Later that inning, Miguel Rojas would hit a slow roller to the left side. A poor throw from Munoz would allow Bour to score. JT Riddle would drop a hit to right center to score Anderson. I mean...who’s team is this?! Marlins were up 6-2.

With a variety of conditions including a high pitch count (91 pitches), runners on base, and dangerous right-handed hitters coming up, Don Mattingly elected to pull Chen and insert the recently promoted Drew Rucinski. He was able to get Marcell Ozuna to hit into a fielder’s choice and struck out Yadier Molina.

Against lefty reliever, Brett Cecil, the Marlins opened up the can of you-know-what. With one out, Castro would hit a double and would later be driven in by Dietrich. Realmuto would follow up with a triple and would be allowed to score by Bour single. 8-2.

I was on my feet already, but then Lewis Brinson stepped up in the 7th inning and mashed his 8th home run of the season. Realmuto would drive in Castro with a double later in the inning. This brought the Marlins to their first double digit score of the entire season. Until Wednesday night, the Marlins and Twins were the only teams without ending a game with a double digit score. I would have been more than happy with 10, but Wednesday night was the gift that kept on giving. Lewis Brinson would crush a Jed Gyorko pitch that was up in the zone. **CUE THE FIST PUMPS**

Swordfish: Dietrich (.209 WPA)

Flounder: Chen (-.070 WPA)

Moment of the Game: Brinson’s second home run in the 9th inning

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

Matchup Summary

Over the course Wei-Yin Chen’s career, he has started 151 games. During the course of those 151 starts, he has never gone fewer than 2 ¹⁄₃ innings until he was lifted after 1 ²⁄₃ innings at San Diego in his last outing. Before that last dismal start, he threw 7 ¹⁄₃ innings against the Nationals, his best start of the season. With all of the roster changes, this could definitely be the last time we see Chen.

With young phenom Alex Reyes back on the disabled list with a torn tendon, gone are the questions over whether the Cardinals should keep Jack Flaherty at the major league level. The rookie has shown he’s worthy of a spot anyway, going 2-1 with a 2.62 ERA in six starts. He’s also on my fantasy team sooo... ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Thread Question:

The international signing period is less than a month away, what particular players/positions do you want to see the Marlins address?