Offense Still Absent As Miami Marlins Fall To Tampa Bay Rays, 3-1

May 18, 2013; Miami, FL, USA; Miami Marlins starting pitcher Tom Koehler (34) throws a pitch during the first inning against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Marlins Park. Mandatory Credit: Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports

The Miami Marlins offense continued its season long M.I.A. act on Wednesday night as they fell to the Tampa Bay Rays 3-1.  The loss was the Marlins’ eighth in a row extending their season long streak for consecutive defeats.  It was also the 19^th time they have been held to 1 run or less which amounts to 36% of their 53 games so far.

The offense was held to just 3 hits on the night by Rays’ starter Roberto Hernandez who lasted a season long 8 2/3 innings and dispensed of 15 of the last 16 Marlins batters he faced.  The Marlins have become the team struggling pitchers hope to face in order to get themselves a confidence boost.   The loss puts the Marlins on pace to go 40-122 on the season which would eclipse the 1962 New York Mets record for most losses in a season in the modern era (post 1900).

But enough of the bad news, let’s get to some of the highlights for the Marlins squad.  Marcell Ozuna smacked a fourth inning single to extend his hitting streak to 14 games.  He is chasing the Marlins rookie record hitting streak of 22 games set by World Series hero Edgar Renteria.   Ozuna continues to show he belongs in the big leagues and will force the Marlins to make a difficult decision on playing time once Giancarlo Stanton is able to return from the Disabled List.

The only extra base hit on the night came off the scorching bat of Chris Coghlan as he doubled to lead off the first inning and extended his own hitting streak to five games.  It may be interesting to note that Mike Redmond decided to start Coghlan in leftfield and batted him leadoff against the right handed starter for the Rays.  Does this mean that Coghlan has now officially replaced Juan Pierre as the Marlins full time starting leftfielder?  Stay tuned to find out.

Marlins starter Tom Koehler hurled eight very effective innings giving up just three runs on seven hits and one walk while striking out four.  The eight innings was a career high for Koehler who is still in search of his first major league win.  Koehler has now provided three consecutive quality starts out of four starts in total.  He is making a strong case for sticking in the rotation with the return of Nathan Eovaldi from the DL right around the corner.

Despite the strong effort Koehler now falls to 0-3 on the season while the Rays’ Heranndez improves to 3-5.

Up Next: In the Thursday finale to the Citrus Series, Marlins ace Ricky Nolasco (3-5) will take on Alex Colome (0-0) for the Rays who will be making his first major league start.