Sloppy Defense Leads To Loss By Miami Marlins, 4-1

Aug 21, 2013; Miami, FL, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers shortstop Hanley Ramirez (13) steals second base as Miami Marlins shortstop Adeiny Hechavarria (3) catches the throw in the eighth inning at Marlins Park. The Dodgers won 4-1. Mandatory Credit: Robert Mayer-USA TODAY Sports

The Miami Marlins appear to be watching too much of the Little League World Series or maybe they have not been watching enough of it.  In either case, sloppy defense and baserunning led them to suffer a 4-1 loss at the hands of the Los Angeles Dodgers on Wednesday.

Marlins starter Nathan Eovaldi had one bad inning of the seven he was able to throw, but it was enough to cost him the game.  The bad inning was the 4^th which started with an error by third baseman Ed Lucas allowing the lead off hitter to reach.  Eovaldi followed that by allowing a walk, a double and a single and suddenly the Dodgers had scored 2 runs.  Then to top it off, Eovaldi made an errant throw on a pick off attempt with allowed a 3^rd run to score in the inning.  Outside of this one inning, the Marlins starter was sharp throwing 7 innings and allowing just 2 earned runs on 6 hits and 2 walks.  He struck out 5 batters including one on a 100mph fastball to end the fifth inning.

The Marlins offense on the night was provided courtesy of a laser shot home run down the line in leftfield by Giancarlo Stanton, his 16^th on the season.  The home run was estimated at 422 feet and was Stanton’s second of the series against the Dodgers.  Stanton has now hit in 8 straight games and has raised his batting average to .251 for the year.  Lucas and Adeiny Hechavarria also had 2 hits each on the night, but the offense was unable to muster any more runs.

Eovaldi was saddled with the loss dropping his record to 2-4, while Zack Grienke threw 8 strong innings for the Dodgers to get the win and improve his record to an impressive 12-3.

Up Next: The Marlins finish off the 4 game series with the Dodgers with an afternoon game on Thursday at Marlins Park.  The Dodgers will send out Cy Young Award candidate Clayton Kershaw (12-7) to start and he will face Henderson Alvarez (2-2) for the Marlins.