Miami Marlins Defeat NL Champs for First Series Win of the Season

The Miami Marlins defeated the defending National League Champion Los Angeles Dodgers by an 8-6 final on Wednesday night. The win gives the Marlins a two-to-one series win, their first series win of the season in their eighth series. It’s also their first  winning “streak” of the season.

The Marlins had split two of their prior series this season. They went toe-to-toe with the Chicago Cubs in the season opener, winning two-of-four. Later, they traded blowouts with the New York Yankees. It’s also notable that both of their series ties happened against the respective League Champion runners-up from last season.

Pitching

Trevor Richards outdueled three-time Cy Young Award winner Clayton Kershaw. Richards pitched to a GameScore of 70, striking out 10 and leaving after 4 2/3 innings and 100 pitches. He put 62 in the strikezone and only surrendered one hit. Richards left the game with a 3-0 lead, but one out prior to qualification for his first career MLB victory.

Kershaw completed five innings, putting 64-of-112 over the plate. He surrendered six walks, only the third time in his career he has given up that many. It was the first such occurrence since April 7th, 2010. Kershaw also allowed five hits and struck out seven. All three runs scored on Miguel Rojas‘ third homer of the season.

The Dodgers leaned on five relief pitchers to get through the final four innings. Merandy Gonzalez pitched three for the Marlins, and got tagged for a run in the sixth and two in the eighth before getting lifted for Junichi Tazawa. Brad Ziegler pitched the ninth and watched his ERA grow to 8.71 by allowing three runs on three hits in a non-save situation.

Hitting

J.T. Realmuto and Rojas each knocked in three RBI for the night. Rojas on a three-run fifth inning homer, and Realmuto with a solo shot in the sixth and a two-run blast in the eighth. It’s the first time this season that the Miami Marlins have hit more than two round-trippers.

Realmuto has only played in seven games this season so far, and already has tied Justin Bour for the team lead with four home runs. His eight RBI are tied for third on the club. Rojas’ third home run of the season extends his season-best. He had hit exactly one home run in each of his first four seasons.

Starlin Castro collected a pair of hits in four at bats to raise his average to .302. Lewis Brinson continued his struggles by going 0-for-2 with a strikeout. JB Shuck was 2-for-3. Derek Dietrich struck out twice, and was 0-for-6.

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Heroes and Zeroes

Richards stuff was just electric, including the as-advertised 80 grade changeup. He’s still 0-2 for his major league career, with just one “quality start.” Regardless, 4 2/3 innings aren’t enough to earn a victory, even if Ziegler hadn’t just about blown it. Richards earned a +.213 Wins Probability Added (WPA) on the mound.

Despite Realmuto’s two home runs, he still finished with a game WPA of minus-.014. His home runs (+.060 in the sixth, +.048 in the eighth) couldn’t offset the negative impact in his other four plate appearances. Mostly due to his fourth inning, two-out, bases-loaded flyout to end Miami’s threat in a still-scoreless game.

Rojas emerged as the real winner of this category, weighing in with a +.442. His single to right field in the fourth was good for a +.080 mark, but the big blow, of course, was his scoreboard-seal breaking fifth-inning three-run moonshot (+.336). It was by-far the single most impactful play of the game. Realmuto’s flyout ranked third, behind Dietrich’s fourth-inning, one-out bases-loaded strikeout.

Next: J.T. Realmuto only a part-answer

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