Marlins Spring Training: Morse homers as Marlins drop tilt with Cardinals

By Travis Honeycutt |

33. 2. 82. Final. 5

New Miami Marlins first baseman Mike Morse smacked his first home run of the spring on Thursday in a 5-2 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals at Roger Dean Stadium.

Miami’s bats were largely silenced by the Cardinals pitching staff as the Fish dropped to 2-2 on the young Grapefruit League season. The team totalled five hits, including a double by Donovan Solano, and scattered three singles in addition to Morse’s homer. Ichiro Suzuki plated Miami’s first run in the second with an RBI groundout to score Morse, who had walked in his first plate appearance.

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Jarred Cosart pitched a perfect pair of innings to open the game before giving way to a bevy of pitching prospects. The Marlins projected number three starter struck out a pair while retiring all six Cardinals he faced on the day.

Prospect Jose Urena, who will officially start the season in Triple-A New Orleans, tossed two innings of his own, allowing three hits while striking out three and walking two.

Justin Nicolino, also slated to begin 2015 in NOLA, struck out three in his two innings of work but surrendered a run courtesy of a Jason Heyward RBI single.

Lefty prospect Adam Conley experienced a rough outing on Sunday. The Marlins led 2-1 until the 24 year-old served up a pair of two-run long balls to Cardinals top prospect Tommy Pham and big leaguer Randal Grichuk in the bottom of the seventh. Conley’s final line was one inning, three hits, four runs (two earned) and one punch out.

Conley should also start the season in Triple-A.

For St. Louis, incumbent starter Lance Lynn pitched the first inning, allowing the one run while walking two. Six Cardinals prospects combined to pitch the last eight innings and shut the Marlins out with the exception of the Morse solo homer, which came at the behest of Tim Cooney.

A few things to note from Sunday’s game:

Giancarlo Stanton DH’ed and went 0-for-2 with a walk.
The Marlins struck out just twice; J.T. Realmuto and Derek Dietrich each K’d in their only PA’s
Pat Urckfitz, a NRI trying to somehow fit in the Marlins bullpen pitcure, pitched a scoreless ninth inning against mostly minor league batters. He walked one and struck out none.
Morse’s homer was the first one hit by a Marlin so far this spring.
Adeiny Hechavarria sat out for the third straight game due to a strained shoulder, according to Juan C. Rodriguez of the Sun Sentinel.
This was the second of six meetings between the Cardinals and Marlins in this year’s Grapefruit League. St. Louis won 4-1 on Thursday.

Next Miami Marlins Grapefruit League game

March 9: Marlins at Mets, 1:10 PM EDT.

Mat Latos (Marlins debut) vs. Zack Wheeler

The game will be tape delayed on MLB Network Monday night.

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