Miami Marlins Top San Diego Padres to Open 10-Game Road Trip

In mid-afternoon on Memorial Day, the Miami Marlins squared off with the San Diego Padres. They came away with a big 7-2 win.

Pitching

Caleb Smith was strong in his start for the Miami Marlins, tossing seven innings of four-hit, one-run ball with 27,932 in attendance at Petco Park. Smith (4-5, 3.51) struck out four and only walked one batter. He earned a 67 GameScore, only his fifth best mark of the season. Over his last seven starts, he has struck out 47 in 40 2/3 innings, allowed 23 hits, walked 11, and held opposing batters to a .169 average. Smith got 59-of-103 pitches in the strike zone.

Opposing starter Eric Lauer wasn’t quite as dominating. Lauer (1-3, 7.67) lasted only 2 1/3 innings, and surrendered five earned runs on seven hits and a pair of walks. He struck out three. Lauer only lasted 63 pitches, 39 of which were strikes.

Drew Steckenrider relieved Smith, inheriting a runner on first with no outs in the eighth. Five pitches later, Steck had three outs to show for it. Nick Wittgren allowed a run in the ninth, but the Padres couldn’t really muster that much of a rally.

Offense

The Miami Marlins gave Smith all the run support that he would need before Smith even threw a pitch. In the top of the first, Lauer allowed four runs on five hits. Starlin Castro drove home Brian Anderson,

Cameron Maybin drove in Castro,

and Yadiel Rivera brought home Justin Bour and Maybin with another single.

Smith’s lone blunder of the afternoon was a second inning solo home run to Franmil Reyes. Castro collected another RBI with a single to center field in the third. Miami added two insurance runs in the ninth on a Derek Dietrich pinch-RBI-double

and a Miguel Rojas RBI-single.

Hunter Renfroe hit an RBI-single in the ninth off reliever Wittgren.

If you have some time to kill, check out our draft coverage, led by Marlin Maniac writer and catcher Hector Lozada.

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A few things

• With 15 hits in the game, the Miami Marlins set a new season high. The previous high-water mark of 14 was achieved on April 13th in a 7-2 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates. They also collected as many on May 11th, in a 6-3 victory against the Atlanta Braves.
• Six Miami Marlins finished with more than one hit. Maybin led the way with three hits. An RBI-single in the first, an RBI-single in the third, and another single in the sixth.
• Also finishing the game with multiple hits were Rojas, Anderson, Castro, Bour, and Rivera.
• Speaking of Rivera, he finally got his average over the Mendoza line with a two-for-three day. He sits at .205 now.
• Lewis Brinson went 0-for-4 with a strikeout, dropping to .155 for the season. Affording the latitude to let Brinson feel his own way is a dubious luxury, at best. At worst, the slump, which has lasted a full one-third of the season now, could do permanent damage to Brinson’s plate approach. He should be sent down to the New Orleans Baby Cakes in order to work out whatever is keeping him below .200.

Next: Nationals Sweep Miami

Tomorrow’s game is going to be late. Much later than we on the East Coast are accustomed to. The first pitch is scheduled for 10:10 EST. Until then, follow us on Twitter, like us on Facebook, and subscribe to our daily newsletter.