First Day Back Blues as Marlins Fall to the Brewers, 2-0

Jul 10, 2013; Miami, FL, USA; Miami Marlins starting pitcher Jacob Turner (33) delivers a pitch against the Atlanta Braves during the first inning at Marlins Park. Mandatory Credit: Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports

Sometimes, the first day back from a break doesn’t go the way you wanted it to, and that is what happened in Milwaukee last night, as the Miami Marlins couldn’t figure out how to get runners to move 90 feet.

Jacob Turner got the ball last night, and turned in a pretty good performance.  He went five innings, striking out six, yielding five hits, two earned runs, and four walks. On most teams, a performance like that would probably put a “W” on the board, but on a team that went 0-5 RISP and stranded six runners, it wasn’t enough. I even found myself texting the editor of this fine publication about Turner, and then realized he was actually doing pretty good.

Ex-Cardinal Kyle Lohse, however, was damn effective. While he didn’t tally as many strikeouts as Turner, only Adeiny Hechavarria seemed to have his number. Hech went 3-3 off of Lohse and the bullpen, hitting what looked like exactly the same hit time after time.  His consistency going the other way is making a compelling argument to have him hit in the two hole. Elsewhere in the Marlins lineup, Lohse threw a lot of ground balls and pop flies.  The Brewers have the third-best bullpen ERA in the National League, and it showed.

Giancarlo Stanton is still struggling to make contact, as are Ruggiano, Ozuna, and Dietrich.

Nathan Eovaldi gets the ball tonight at 7:10 (ET) against Yovani Gallardo. Let’s hope our beleaguered rotation gets some assistance from the lineup.