Miami Marlins: Clayton Richard Electric in Marlins loss

ST. LOUIS, MO - JULY 5: JT Riddle #39 of the Miami Marlins throws to first base against the St. Louis Cardinals in the second inning at Busch Stadium on July 5, 2017 in St. Louis, Missouri. (Photo by Dilip Vishwanat/Getty Images)
ST. LOUIS, MO - JULY 5: JT Riddle #39 of the Miami Marlins throws to first base against the St. Louis Cardinals in the second inning at Busch Stadium on July 5, 2017 in St. Louis, Missouri. (Photo by Dilip Vishwanat/Getty Images) /
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The Miami Marlins and the San Diego Padres played the rubber-game in their three-game series on Saturday. The Marlins lost yesterday’s matchup as well.

Pitching

Clayton Richard was 75% of his way to a no-hitter before Miguel Rojas broke it up. He went 6 2/3 frames without allowing a hit before Rojas smacked a single right up the middle.

Lewis Brinson, who was on first, wound up on second on the play, and JT Riddle knocked him in with a single into right for Miami’s only run of the game.

Richard went seven frames and only allowed those two hits. He walked three and struck out five, lowering his ERA to 4.40 for the season. Counterpart Jose Urena turned in a quality start, striking out five in six innings. He allowed six hits and zero walks, surrendering three earned runs.

Urena got 54-of-86 pitches in the strike zone, earning a 54 GameScore. Richard finished with a 74, with 55-of-94 pitches over the plate.

Elieser Hernandez pitched a scoreless seventh in relief. Tayron Guerrero struck out three and allowed one hit in two innings.

Hitting

Brian Anderson was 0-for-3 with a walk. The performance brought to a halt his seven-game winning streak. He had gone 14-for-28 with three doubles, a triple, a home run, and six RBI.

Starlin Castro was also 0-for-3 with a walk, and is now just two for his last 13. J.T. Realmuto struck out twice and finished 0-for-3, and is hitless over his last three games, or 11 at bats.

Justin Bour had hit in four straight, going six-for-15. Against Richard and company, he was also 0-for-3 with a walk.

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Cameron Maybin went 0-for-4 and now has only two hits in his last 22 at bats. After a 6-for-13 stretch, Brinson went hitless in four at bats, and is now also 0-for-11.

With most of the starters seemingly now in a slump, it was nice to see Rojas, who had broken up an 0-for-18 slump on Saturday, break up Richard’s no-hitter in turn.

Riddle’s RBI-single makes four RBI for the season.

Scoring

Urena allowed Freddy Galvis to knock in Hunter Renfroe on a sacrifice fly in the second inning. After that, he kept the Miami Marlins within a run until the sixth, when Eric Hosmer went deep with a two-run shot for his eighth round-tripper of the season.

In the top of the seventh, Miami pitcher Hernandez limited further damage by picking Manuel Margot off third base. It was Miami’s second TOOTBLAN (thrown out on the basepaths like a nincompoop) of the week.

Tomorrow night, the Miami Marlins will open a four-game home series against the San Francisco Giants. Wei-Yin Chen (1-3, 5.86) will take on Madison Bumgarner (0-1, 3.00).

Next: Miami Drops a Close one on Saturday

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