MIA 3, ARI 4; Live by the long ball, die by the long ball (again)

Yes, I’m using the title again. It fits. Deal with it.

Before I get into the doom and gloom...COOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOP. Garrett Cooper destroyed a ball to the opposite field to tie the game in the fourth! (This is the “live by” part.)

Now then, a question for the collective Marlins coaching staff: why on earth is Elieser Hernandez pitching to an order for the third time in a game? It NEVER ends well! But fear not, Marlins fans, Max Meyer will be our savior! At least we keep telling ourselves that.

In the meantime, there are a few positives to find with Lilo. After allowing runs in the first two innings, Elieser had set down 12 of 13 batters as he cruised into the 6th inning. Then the patented last-pitch-of-the-game home run (this is the “die by” part). It was Ketel Marte who broke the tie and made it 4-3 in the bottom of the sixth, ending the night for Lilo.

Final line: 5.1 IP, 6 H, 4 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 5 K, 88/57 P/S.

Marte was in a rut early this season, but that’s ancient history—he is slashing .458/.552/.833 since the calendar flipped to May.

Tommy Nance came on in relief of Lilo to make his Marlins debut and was lights out! Back-to-back strikeouts got him out of the sixth inning and a double play turned by Miguel Rojas helped erase a leadoff walk in the seventh. Tommy struck out the third batter of the inning, and wouldn't you know it, the Marlins were heading into the final innings down by a single run. Stop me if you’ve heard this before.

The offense showed some life in the form of some bases-loaded RBIs from Jacob Stallings and the aforementioned Cooper home run, but the rest of the game was a lobster fest for the Marlins. With De La Cruz pinch-running for Jesús Aguilar at second base and Jorge Soler at first base with one out in the eighth inning, Joey Wendle lined a ball directly into the glove of the shortstop and it looked like Bryan De La Cruz was easily doubled off at second base but was called safe. After a review, the safe call stood as it was extremely too close to call.

Alas, it was for naught as the dead ball reared its ugly head and Garrett Cooper flew out to deep left.

Fish Stripes original GIF

Tanner Scott encountered some trouble in the bottom of the eighth but made it through unscathed. And we went to the ninth with the Marlins down a run. A tweet we've seen very often over the past two seasons made an appearance:

Avisaíl García started off the ninth with a single, but was forced out on a slick defensive play on a Jesús Sánchez grounder. Sánchez was then doubled off to end the game. And lo and behold, ANOTHER ONE-RUN LOSS!

This is their brand, unfortunately. The Marlins suffered their 10th one-run loss of the season—no other MLB team has more than seven.

Don Mattingly’s Postgame Press Conference

Baseball Savant

This is getting annoying. Call up Max Meyer, do SOMETHING about the offense, and abolish west coast games.

Well, they can’t kick me out of my own room so you’re all stuck here for as long as I decide! But it’s late. Go to sleep. MadBum vs. Lizard on Tuesday.