SFG 5, MIA 2; Can’t Win ‘em All

With the series win in the bag, the Marlins hoped that lefty Trevor Rogers would continue off the solid outing against the Diamondbacks from last Friday. Things looked good early on but quickly spiraled out of control as Trev had to leave with an injury. The bullpen locked things down and kept the game close all the way into extra innings, but with a taxed bullpen and no arms left, Skip was forced to make one of the arms wear it and take the loss. Let’s break it down.

Trev worked around some trouble early in the top of the first, issuing a single to Thairo Estrada and a walk to Darin Ruf, both on full counts. A gorgeous back pick by Jacob Stallings, followed by a strikeout, would strand the runner at second. He cruised through the next two innings, retiring seven straight with two strikeouts.

Things unraveled in the fourth inning as Trevor was removed from the game after allowing a single to Wilmer Flores and a run-scoring double to Darin Ruf. We were later informed that he was removed with left forearm tightness. He tried to talk his way into continuing, but Skip and Mel were not willing to let him push through something unnecessarily. He said his arm feels fine and will get an MRI later today.

George Soriano was given as much time as he needed to warm up and face the heart of the Giants’ order. He gave up a single to J.D. Davis to put two on with no outs, then retired both David Villar and Mike Yastrzemski. He allowed a walk to Joey Bart after a questionable ball-two call to load the bases, but slammed the door with a ground ball to shortstop to end the inning and leave all the ducks on the pond. He went on to pitch a scoreless fifth inning to keep the score 1-0.

The offense was able to push across the tying run in the bottom of the fifth as Garrett Cooper delivered a two-out RBI single to score Garrett Hampson, who singled and stole second base. They were able to load the bases, but they were all stranded by a Bryan De La Cruz groundout.

The teams remained deadlocked at one all the way through the tenth inning as both teams were unable to push a run across. Following the two-out walk in the top of the fourth, the Marlins bullpen retired the next eight batters in order before Andrew Nardi allowed a hit-by-pitch and a walk with one out in the seventh. He got LaMonte Wade Jr. to ground out for the second out and was replaced by Huascar Brazoban with runners on second and third. Brazoban induced a lineout to strand a pair and keep the game knotted at one. He would go on to retire all five batters he faced in 1 ²⁄₃ innings of work. Tanner Scott replaced him with one out in the ninth and continued the impressive stretch by the ‘pen, tossing 1 ²⁄₃ scoreless innings in the ninth and tenth, stranding the ghost runner at third in the tenth.

Devin Smeltzer was handed the ball for the top of the eleventh, with Dylan Floro and A.J. Puk having pitched on back-to-back days. Things went south quick, fast, and in a hurry, as Smeltzer gave up a pair of two-run home runs to Michael Conforto and Mike Yastrzemski.

On the offensive side, it began to feel a lot like last season as the Marlins left two men on in the ninth and left the bases loaded in both the tenth and eleventh innings. Although, they were able to push a single run across in the eleventh when Jon Berti led off with an RBI double to score ghost-runner Avi Garcia from second. When all was said and done, the Giants had scored five runs on seven hits, and the Marlins had scored two runs on ten hits.

Final score: 5-2 Giants.

Noah’s Notes and What’s Next

• It still would’ve been nice to complete the sweep. Alas, as the title of this article states, you can’t win every single game.
• Scoring only two runs on ten hits and leaving 15 men on base isn't really a recipe for success.
• All of the Marlins starters recorded a hit.
• This game clocked in at 3 hours and 37 minutes, the longest for the Marlins this season.
• The announced attendance was 8,272, a season-low for the Marlins.
• The Marlins will travel to Cleveland tomorrow in preparation for a three-game series beginning on Friday night. Braxton Garrett will face off against Zach Plesac.
• Fish Stripes will have boots on the ground in both Cleveland and Atlanta. Grant Kiefer will be in Cleveland for games two and three. Isaac Azout will be in Atlanta for games one, two, and three.
• ‘Til Tmrw!