MIA 8, PHI 4; Luis Arraez hits first cycle in franchise history

Many people thought they had seen the peak of Luis Arraez. Coming into Tuesday’s game hitting .500, it would’ve been hard to further improve upon his performance in the first month of his Marlins career. But the 26-year-old continues to raise the bar.

Just 12 games into his Marlins tenure, Arraez hit for the cycle. A feat that no Marlins had accomplished in the team’s 30-year history. But in the 4,700th game for the franchise, Arraez came through. He came to the plate in the eighth inning needing only a single to achieve the feat that all other 29 MLB teams had accomplished at least once. In typical Arraez fashion, he slapped a ball to the opposite field and solidified his place in Marlins history.

Arraez began the game with a double to center field in the first inning and followed it up with a triple to the right field corner in the sixth and a solo home run to left field in the seventh. He also had two runs and two RBI.

While Arraez was certainly the headliner in Wednesday’s victory, the whole squad got in on the party. Jon Berti, Yuli Gurriel, Jean Segura, and Jazz Chisholm Jr. each had two hits, with one of Berti’s hits being a solo home run to center field. Chisholm, Jr. is on a six-game hit streak, and is 8-for-24 with three RBI in that span.

Most of the Marlins’ scoring didn’t come through until the sixth inning and later. Up 1-0 thanks to Berti’s home run earlier in the game, Arraez scored from third on a Jorge Soler double. Gurriel and Nick Fortes each had RBI singles in the sixth as well to take a 4-0 lead.

Marlins starter Jesús Luzardo breezed through the first five innings, allowing zero runs on just four hits and one walk.

But the sixth inning was Luzardo’s biggest test this season. He allowed a leadoff solo home run to Kyle Schwarber. He got J.T. Realmuto to ground out to third, but then allowed a single to Nick Castellanos. He got one more out on an Alex Bohm popout, but proceeded to load the bases on an infield single to Josh Harrison and a hit-by-pitch to Edmundo Sosa.

What happened next was a bit of a double-edged sword for Luzardo. He allowed a two-RBI single to Bryson Stott. But Stott took a wide turn around first base and was thrown out by left fielder Bryan De La Cruz.

The Marlins got three more insurance runs in the eighth on two singles by Berti and Arraez, and a triple by Chisholm.

Dylan Floro walked two in his scoreless seventh-inning appearance, but got out of it thanks to a 6-4-3 double play. Huascar Brazoban allowed one run in two innings.

Luis Arraez’s Postgame Press Conference

The rubber game of the series will take place Wednesday at 4:05 p.m. ET. Probable starters are Edward Cabrera and Zack Wheeler.