The Fish flop against the dominant Max Scherzer 9-1

The Marlins were shut down tonight against Max Scherzer and the Nationals. Scherzer was wheeling and dealing like he usually does. He struck out 10 hitters while only giving up three hits. The lack of offense tonight kept the Fish from getting into the game.

Pablo López: 5.2 IP, 9 H, 4 ER, 2 BB, 3 K

Max Scherzer: 8.0 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 11 K

Pablo López did not do himself any favors tonight against a Nationals team that can hit. By the time the fourth inning started the Fish were down 4 zip. Juan Soto tagged López for a run, with a solo shot in the second. López also gave up 9 hits in his five and two innings of work. The third inning was the big one for the Nats, they scored two runs, with one being off of a wild pitch by López. The young man did not have too much working tonight, but when facing the Nationals this tends to happen for the Fish.

The Fish were limited to just about nothing until the bottom of the seventh inning. Starlin Castro reached second base on a fielding and throwing error by Mark Reynolds. Martín Prado brought Castro home on a double to left field, which was first deflected off of Reynolds glove at third. Not a great inning for Reynolds but the Fish will take whatever they can get. 4-1 Nationals.

The Nationals would come back swinging even harder in the eighth inning. They successfully scored five runs off of relief pitcher Javy Guerra. The entire team batted around against Guerra. Truth be told by the middle of this inning you could just tell Guerra was gonna be left out there until he got all three outs. That was the toughest inning of the game to watch as Guerra just continued to lay it up there for the Nats.

The Fish threatened a little bit in the eighth but ultimately nothing happened. Scherzer was able to pitch through the inning, limiting the Fish to just two singles in the inning. The ninth inning was worse with no one getting on base. This was a hard game to watch as a Marlins fan, but Schezer did pitch beautifully. The Fish will have to shake it off, and give the Nats a fight tomorrow.

Courtesy of Fangraphs

Kingfish: Max Scherzer (.250 WPA).

Flounder: Pablo López (-.205).

Play of the game: Scherzer dominance.

Attendance: 9,297

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

Matchup Summary:

The Marlins got beat badly yesterday 10-3. Stephen Strasburg was supposed to start but was a late scratch, Tommy Milone replaced him. Dan Straily was on the mound for the Fish and this looked like it was the game Miami would win soundly. Baseball of course is a mythical beast and instead the Nationals stepped all over the Fish.

Fast forward to today and Max Scherzer will be taking on Pablo López. Soooooooo the Marlins will win in grand fashion right...right? Well anyway that will be the pitching matchup for tonight, so the Marlins do have their work cut out for them.

López will be starting his fifth game of the season with the Fish, he currently has a 5.09 earned run average. This will be the second time he faces the Nationals, the last outing did not go so well for him. Scherzer continues to dominate baseball, but against the Marlins it is a bit different. He has a 5.54 earned run average when facing the Fish. The bad news for the Fish, he is 2-0 against them. Tonights game will be interesting to say the least.

Game Thread Question:

Imagine every Marlin player became a free agent tomorrow. The Marlins can only sign five players from their roster right now, each for five years, which five are you taking?

(Personally it would be Realmuto, Anderson, Brinson, Alcántara, Smith)