Stat Wrap 6/28: Marlins Had Eight Good Innings, Needed Nine

Sometimes the wheels come off.  Sometimes someone sets them on fire after they do.

That would about cover this 7-5 loss to the Detroit Tigers Tuesday night at Comerica Park.  For eight innings, the Marlins were hands down the better team.  Unfortunately, the Marlins really needed to be able to make that claim for nine, as Detroit was able to pound out three home runs in a catastrophic fifth inning.  Seven runs would score, and it would be all the Tigers needed to claim their third win in a row over the Marlins this season.

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Really, it can’t be overstated how much better the Marlins were for most of this game. The Fish outhit the Tigers 16-9.  There was nary a Miami error on the night, while Detroit managed to commit three.  Marlins starter Adam Conley gave up only five hits while striking out nine; six of those strikeouts came in the first two innings.  Yep.

Losing this game just didn’t seem possible in the early going.  But then the Marlins kept leaving men on base- they left TWELVE men on base by the end- and you started to worry.  At least the pitching was good….and then you hit the fifth inning that wouldn’t die.  Even ex-Marlin Miguel Cabrera homered, just to make the loss feel extra special.  And that was that.

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Except it wasn’t quite, as the Marlins did do enough to remind they are a good team. They battled back, and three times sent the tying run to the plate.  The attempted comeback featured two hits from future Hall of Famer Ichiro Suzuki, one of the few positives to take away in the wake of this one.  The pressure will be on this afternoon , or else fears will run rampant in clubhouse and the stands alike that this week of games against teams that have owned the Marlins this season could eat up any momentum gained from that Cubs series last weekend.

And now we Stat Wrap:

• Ichiro Watch: Two-hit night for the legend.  He’s just 14 hits away from 3000.
• Giancarlo Stanton hit his 15th HR of the season, and went 3 for 5 with 3 RBI.
• Adam Conley notched nine strikeouts, tying his season and career high.
• All seven runs of Detroit’s offense came in the fifth inning, all off of HRs.
• The Marlins outhit the Tigers16-9.
• The Tigers out errored the Marlins 3-0.
• Marcell Ozuna went 2 for 5 in his game back from resting his wrist.
• Eight of nine Marlins recorded a hit, and five had multi-hit nights.
• The Marlins fielded a lineup with six players hitting over .300 yesterday, and June 28th is not exactly the day after Opening Day.  Keep it up Fish.