Cincinnati, OH—With just a week to go before the trade deadline, the Marlins are being viewed as likely sellers. It’s a distracting situation for the team and their players. To change the trajectory of their season, they need to take care of business on the field against a rebuilding Reds team. However, Monday’s ugly loss didn’t help their cause.
The Marlins got off to a surprisingly hot start with Nick Fortes reaching on a single. After a Jesus Aguilar lineout, Nick Fortes stole 2nd and advanced to 3rd on an E4. Avisaíl García drove in Fortes with an RBI single. 1-0, Marlins.
In the bottom of the 1st, Trevor Rogers gave up a leadoff double to his competition for the 2021 NL Rookie of the Year award, Jonathan India. India’s double worked to no avail, though, as the Reds had three straight outs after.
The Reds began brewing some offense in the bottom of the 2nd, as Kyle Farmer drew a leadoff walk and former Marlin, Donovan Solano, hit a single to center field. This gave the Reds two runners on with no outs in the inning. Trevor Rogers did a very good job working himself out of the inning, following up those at-bats with a strikeout, a lineout that included an awesome catch from Bryan De La Cruz, and another strikeout.
The Marlins countered with some early-inning baserunners as well, this time in the top of the 3rd. Jacob Stallings got on with a leadoff single and Miguel Rojas followed it up with a single of his own. During Nick Fortes’ at-bat, Nick Lodolo threw a wild pitch that resulted in both runners advancing to 2nd and 3rd, still with no outs. Fortes got on himself right after with a walk, loading the bases with no outs.
Of course this inning ended in some runs scored, right? Not so fast. Jesús Aguilar went down on strikes to give Lodolo his 5th strikeout of the game through 2 1⁄3 innings of work. During Avisaíl García’s at-bat, he lined out to Joey Votto. Votto made the heads up play to throw to second and get the forceout, which Rojas showed no effort getting back to the bag on. Still 1-0, Marlins.
Jonathan India came into this game with something to prove against Trevor Rogers, it seems. India added another hit to his tally with a leadoff single in the bottom of the 3rd.
Rogers had to work out of a jam again in the bottom of the 3rd, as Brandon Drury grounded into a 3-6 fielder’s choice, which was followed up by a Tommy Pham single. Rogers got Votto to strike out in a full count, but followed that up with a Kyler Farmer RBI single. Tie game, 1 apiece.
Next at-bat would be the last of the inning, finally, but the Marlins didn’t get out of it unscathed. Solano hit a 2-RBI double into the gap in left center but got thrown out trying to stretch it into a triple. Lead change: 3-1, Reds.
The top of the 4th was all JJ Bleday. He led us off with a double and got all the way home during Luke Williams’ inning-ending at-bat, taking the final 180 feet on a throwing error and wild pitch. 3-2, Marlins.
Nick Senzel got the first hit of the bottom of the 4th with a one out double. India drew a two out walk, which was followed up by a 3 run shot for Brandon Drury. It was his 19th homer of the season. 6-2, Reds. Ugh.
That was Trevor Rogers’ toughest outing in awhile. His final line: 3.2 IP, 8 H, 6 ER, 2 BB, 5 K, HR, 84 pitches. That may be the last we see of him in the majors for a bit, with Jesús Luzardo and Edward Cabrera both due back from the IL within the next two weeks.
Zach Pop got Solano to ground out to start the inning, but it immediately went down hill after that. Matt Reynolds got on via single. Senzel walked. Michael Papierski hit a single. So what did Jonathan India do? Continued his career night in the biggest way possible, hitting his first career grand slam. 10-2, Reds.
Zach Pop’s final line was 0.2 IP, 5 H, 4 ER, BB, 0 K, HR, 27 pitches. He was removed in the middle of an at-bat with an apparent finger/blister issue. Jordan Holloway came in to finish the 5th inning, which he did. Brutal, brutal inning.
As if the Reds needed anymore runs, they got yet another in the bottom of the 6th. The sequence? Farmer double, Solano single, Reynolds RBI single. Both singles were balls that just rolled into the outfield. Yikes. 11-2, Reds
Lodolo came out in the top of the 7th for Joel Kuhnel. Lodolo’s final line is 6 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 9 K, 96 pitches. He only threw 2 innings in his last start, so that’s quite the bounceback outing from him.
Jordan Holloway was solid in his first game back with the Marlins, putting up 2.2 IP, 3 H, ER, BB, 2 K
Kuhnel put up a solid line for the Reds during his time on the mound, with 2.0 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, BB, K, 29 pitches.
Willians Astudillo came to finish up the 8th for the Marlins and he put up the best line of the night, with 1.0 IP, BB, along with a double play that he started himself.
The final score of this one was 11-2, Marlins lose.
What’s Next?
The Marlins continue this 4-game set on Tuesday with an electric pitcher’s duel, featuring Pablo López and the Reds’ Hunter Greene. Pablo had high praise for Greene during my interview with him.
The Marlins also increased their losing streak at Great American Ball Park to 8 games. They got swept in a 3 game set in 2019 and got swept in a 4 game set in 2021. Brutal luck here in Cincinnati for the Marlins recently.
First pitch is at 6:40 PM EST on Bally Sports Florida.
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