Miami Marlins Look Lost in 5-1 Loss to the San Diego Padres

May 7, 2013; San Diego, CA, USA; Miami Marlins second baseman Chris Valaika (13) is injured after a play at second base during the eighth inning against the San Diego Padres at Petco Park. Mandatory Credit: Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY Sports

In the second inning of Tuesday night’s game, Miami Marlins’s rightfielder Marcell Ozuna lost a flyball in the twilight sky.  As he stood there with his arms extended and a befuddled look on his face still looking for the ball it landed about ten rows into the stands behind him for a home run.  This play pretty much summed up the entire game as the Miami Marlins lost to the San Diego Padres for the second night in a row, 5-1.

Alex Sanabia was in trouble all night allowing baserunners in all of the 5 innings he started.  Luckily, the Padres were only able to capitalize in the first 2 innings scoring 1 in the first and 3 in the second.  Those four runs would be more than enough, though, as the Marlins failed to take advantage of the opportunities they had to score.  Sanabia worked into the fifth inning before leaving the game with a groin injury.  He worked 4 1/3 innings on the night and gave up 4 runs on 9 hits and 2 walks with 3 strikeouts to his credit.  The Marlins bullpen would come in to finish the game strong by giving up just 1 unearned run on 1 hit and 1 walk over 3 2/3 innings.

The Marlins offense banged out 7 hits on the night and had men in scoring position in the 1^st, 4^th, and 5^th innings, but were only able to score a single run on the night.  The run came in the 4^th inning as Matt Diaz doubled to open the inning and Marcell Ozuna brought him in with a 2 out bloop double later in the inning.  The double was Ozuna’s fifth in his first 8 games in the big leagues as the rookie continues to impress.  Ozuna ended up with 2 hits on the night, as he added a single later in the game, and Placido Polanco also contributed 2 hits to lead the Fish.

As if the loss and injury to Sanabia were not bad enough, the Marlins may have also lost Chris Valaika for an extended period of time as he suffered a fractured left wrist covering second base on an attempted steal by the Padres.  For those of you clamoring earlier in the season for Chris Coghlan to get time in the infield, you finally got your wish as he took over at 2^nd base for the rest of the night following the Valaika injury.  The Marlins will likely have to call up someone to replace Valaika and possibly Sanabia.  Could infielder Derek Dietrich be on the way to making his MLB debut after a hot start in Double A Jacksonville?  Stay tuned.

Eric Stults got the win for the Padres improving his record to 3-2 and Sanabia took the loss for the Fish falling to 2-5 on the season.  Sanabia may be pitching his way out of the rotation, regardless of the injury he suffered, as he has now allowed 47 hits and 20 walks in 39 inning pitched.

Up Next: The Marlins look to salvage a win in the series finale against the Padres on Wednesday.  Ricky Nolasco (2-3) makes the start for the Marlins against Jason Marquis (3-2) for the Padres.