Miami Marlins 6, Chicago Cubs 10 (10)

The Miami Marlins dropped a 10-6 contest to the Chicago Cubs in front of 13,422 at Marlins Park on Saturday night.

Derek Dietrich continued his hot start to the season by opening the scoring with a two-run homer to right in the first inning. The relief of holding a lead was short lived, however. Kyle Schwarber, 30 lbs. lighter than last year, hit a two-run shot of his own to right in the second to tie it up.

Odrisamer Despaigne, making a start less than 24 hours after earning a win in relief, battled bravely into the fifth inning. Anthony Rizzo then hit a two-out, bases loaded single to score three runs.

With the Marlins down, 5-2 in the bottom of the same frame, Lewis Brinson scored Miguel Rojas on a bases loaded single. Starlin Castro then hit a two-RBI single to tie it up.

The Cubs again took the lead in the sixth, when Jason Heyward hit a sacrifice fly to right, scoring Schwarber. Bryan Holaday, making his first start behind the plate, tied it in the eighth on an RBI-single to center field.

With the score tied at six after nine completed innings, the Cubs and Marlins went to extra baseball for the second night in a row. The Cubs were more than happy to use their extra three outs to score four times in the 10th.

Ben Zobrist collected the eventual game winner on an RBI-single to right, scoring Javier Baez. Kris Bryant then hit a bases-clearing two-out double to make it 10-6, Cubbies.

A few things

• In addition to hitting Miami’s first homer of the season, Dietrich again reached first base by way of HBP. The incident was the 74th such of Derek’s career, extending his existing Marlins’ record. He’s also carrying a team-leading 1.111 OPS.
• Despaigne struck out six in five innings. Although he left the game trailing by three, the offense bailed him out with three runs in the bottom of the inning.
• Junichi Tazawa looked very sharp, with two strikeouts in his inning of work. His curveball had a lot of bite to it.
• Like Dietrich, Rojas also collected a pair of hits for the game.

Heroes and Zeroes

Using the Wins Probability Added (WPA) metric, we can see who produced in the higher leverage situations. Both the good (the heroes) and the bad (the zeros) are represented here. When added together, the winning team (Chicago in this case) will have a 50% WPA. Conversely, the losing team (Miami) will have a -50% WPA.

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Heroes

Bryan Holaday 36.8%

Holaday, batting eighth in the order, grounded out to shortstop for the final out of the second inning (-1.1%). He drew a walk with nobody out and a man on first in the fifth (+7.3%), and later scored. He ended the sixth by flying out to center (-1.9%). Finally, he hit an RBI single with two out and two on in the eighth (+32.6%) to tie it at six.

Ben Zobrist 22.2%

Zobrist, batting seventh for the bad guys, flew out to center with no outs and a man on second in the second inning (-1.5%). In the fifth, he led off by grounding out to shortstop (-3.0%). With no one out and runners on the corners in the sixth, he drew a walk to load the bases (+4.3%). He also drew a one out walk in the eighth (+2.4%). He then hit an RBI-single in the 10th (+19.9%) to take a 7-6 lead.

Kyle Schwarber 21.4%

Schwarzer batted fifth for Chicago. He hit a two-run homer in his first plate appearance, with nobody out in the second (+16.5%). He grounded back to Despaigne for the second out of the fourth (-1.9%). In the sixth, he hit a leadoff double to right (+9.4%) and later scored. He grounded out to first to end the seventh (-2.6%). He was relieved by Javier Baez, and didn’t appear again.

Zeroes

Odrisamer Despaigne -33.5%

Despaigne started and went five innings. He struck out six and allowed four earned runs (five runs in total) on six hits and two walks. He also struck out in his only plate appearance.

"It was really close. I thought Odrisamer was really good. His pitch count was way down in the fifth, there. But the walk hurt, and there came Bryant, and then came Rizzo. – Mattingly, as stated in the post-game interview."

Brad Ziegler -35.1%

Ziegler pitched part of the ninth and all of the 10th, taking the loss by surrendering four earned runs in 1 2/3 innings. He allowed a walk and three hits, with one strikeout.

Yu Darvish -48.6%

Darvish started, but didn’t make it through the fifth inning. In 4 1/3 frames, he allowed five earned runs on five hits and two walks. He struck out four.

Next: Miami's Top Prospects

Thanks for reading today’s recap. Tune in tomorrow for more on this series, and check back tomorrow night for a Phillies preview. In the meantime, Like us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter at @MarlinManiac, and check us at FanSided frequently for all the Marlins news you’ll need.