Miami Marlins Beat Padres as Martin Prado Saves the Day

The Miami Marlins and the San Diego Padres were in a tie game in the bottom of the 10^th, when Martin Prado made two spectacular plays to elongate the game another inning allowing the Marlins to win.

The Miami Marlins played a tightly contested match against the Padres. Martin Prado was the player of the game with the glove and the bat.

It was first and second, one out and Manuel Margot hit a chopper in the hole at short. Prado ranged over to his left, and dove trapping the ball in his glove.

Prado got up and got the force out at second. Preserving what could’ve been bases loaded, one out if Adeiny Hechavarria couldn’t make another spectacular play himself. That huge play took all the pressure off Brad Ziegler.

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Who now needed only one out to get out of the inning. A base hit, error, hit by pitch, or wild pitch would win the game for the Padres though.

The first pitch Erick Aybar saw from Ziegler, he scorched down the third base line.  Prado on nothing but reaction dives almost instantly and snagged the ball out of the air.

Everybody in PetCo Park thought off the bat that the Padres have won the game. Except for Prado who had one of the best consecutive defensive sequences you’ll ever see.

The momentum afterwards

Not only did Prado make two phenomenal plays, but he also saved the game. In the very next inning the Marlins would put up four runs to go on and win 6-3 in 11 innings.

In baseball, many people don’t believe in momentum as Marlins broadcaster Todd Hollandsworth pointed out. Also as Hollandsworth pointed out, a couple of plays like Prado made can energize a dugout and lead to a big inning.

Before the defensive stand, the Marlins have had 11 consecutive batters retired. The energy just wasn’t there due to the lack of offensive production.

Prado though, sparked new life and gave the rest of the ball club the energy needed to pull out a win.

You can see this energy when Dee Gordon raced around the bases to score on an infield single that had a wild throwing error that sent him off to the races. As he crossed home plate he yelled out to the dugout throwing his fist.

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The next batter, Prado singled, and two batters later, Giancarlo Stanton homered for the second time in the game to give the Miami Marlins a 6-2 lead. This was all caused by one man’s effort to save the game and give his team another chance.