3 Reasons the Marlins Swept the Mariners

Mandatory Credit: Howard Smith-USA TODAY Sports

Instant Replay:

If any Marlins’ fans were on the fence regarding instant replay, they shouldn’t be any longer. Two vital calls were overturned during the series that directly led to wins on Friday and Sunday. Friday saw a bunt by Marcell Ozuna in the 9th inning that should have been a fielder’s choice at third base overturned, forcing the Mariners to pitch to the red-hot Giancarlo Stanton (more on him later). The rest was grand slam walk-off history.

Sunday, the Marlins were struggling to push runs across but managed to load the bases for Garrett Jones in the 8th inning. Jones’ ground ball to first baseman Justin Smoak was slightly bobbled before being thrown home, and Christian Yelich was called out at the plate. After a long replay, Yelich was ruled safe in a call that I thought was as obvious as you could get. This tied the game and kept the bases loaded, eventually leading to a go-ahead sacrifice fly by Adeiny Hechavarria.

Mike Redmond and the Marlins replay crew have proved capable at identifying which plays to challenge and not challenge too early in the game. That is one of the reasons for the Marlins sweep.

Mandatory Credit: Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports

Solid Starting Pitching:

20 innings pitched and 3 earned runs are great numbers for three starting pitchers to post during a series. Of course the highlight was Henderson Alvarez’s 90 pitch, 2-hit shutout on Saturday, but Nathan Eovaldi and Kevin Slowey weren’t too shabby either. Eovaldi scattered 7 hits in 6 innings and gave up one earned run and Slowey only allowed 3 hits during his 5 innings of work.

These numbers are stellar and speak to the Marlins strength which lies in their pitching staff. It hasn’t just been this series against the Mariners either. The Marlins starting pitching has been getting the job done throughout the early part of the season. Now if they could just get that bullpen on track.

If the starting pitching can continue to keep the Marlins in the game, the offense has shown that they have just enough fire power to get the job done.

Mandatory Credit: Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports

Late Inning Runs:

The Marlins have shown a propensity to score late runs at home this season and this series was no exception. The Marlins scored more runs in the last 3 innings of the 3 games than the Mariners scored the entire series. Miami was able to score 7 runs in the 7th inning or later in comparison to Seattle’s 6 total runs in the whole series. This is a big deal for the Marlins who really struggled scoring runs late in games last year. This year they have a different feel about them. Especially at home, they seem to never be out of the game. It makes for a much more fun team to root for.

I believe a lot of this success should be contributed to new Marlins hitting coach Frank Menechino. Menechino has the Marlins approaching their at-bats entirely differently from last season, staying back on the ball and concentrating on hitting the ball hard rather than worrying about the results. This has been a welcome change for the Marlins

I would be remiss if I left out that 4 of these runs came at the hands of Giancarlo Stanton’s grand slam. It was a magical moment and one that will be on highlight reel’s for years to come.