Miami Marlins Citrus Series Walkoff: Fish Down Rays, 3-2

With 6,004 in the house at Marlins Park, the Miami Marlins defeated the Tampa Bay Rays. It only took 10 innings to do it.

Wei-Yin Chen started for the Miami Marlins, and turned in a dominant performance. He struck out five in six innings, allowing only an unearned run. He gave up two singles and a double, walking nobody and posting a 73 GameScore. He left after the sixth, getting 53-of-77 pitches in the strikezone and collecting nine groundouts to only three flyouts.

Former Miami Marlins pitcher Nathan Eovaldi took the hill for the Rays. He also struck out five in six frames. Eovaldi allowed two runs on eight hits and a walk, and left as the losing pitcher of record.

Game Story

In the second inning, Miguel Rojas hit his ninth two-bagger of the season to score Starlin Castro for an early lead. The Rays got it back in the fourth, in the form of former Miami Marlins shortstop Adeiny Hechavarria. Hech knocked in Daniel Robertson with a sacrifice fly.

In the bottom of the fifth, J.T. Realmuto clobbered his 11th home run of the season to take a lead that would last until the ninth. Kyle Barraclough, who had just won the NL Reliever of the Month Award, allowed two hits in the top of the ninth. He lost the save opportunity and allowed a run to score on two hits. The big one was C.J. Cron‘s RBI-double.

After the Marlins failed to score in the bottom of the ninth and the Rays went scoreless in the first half of the 10th, Brian Anderson led off the bottom with a four-pitch walk. Realmuto followed with a single, moving Anderson to third. After a near-passed ball, pinch-hitter Yadiel Rivera poked a grounder to third base. Matt Duffy fielded it, but Anderson was nearly at home. Anderson’s throw was off the mark, and for the second time this season Rivera was a walk-off hero.

Just go out there, get a good at bat, put it play, and anything can happen. That’s what happened out there today. – Rivera

Hitting

• For the third time this season, Castro collected four hits. Today they were all singles, and Castro’s average climbed to .288. He also scored a run. Castro now has 25 multi-hit games and seven three-hit games this season.

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• Rojas was three-for-four with a double and an RBI. It was his sixth three-hit game and his 15th multi-hit game overall. Rojas is now at .253.
• Realmuto’s two-hit game was his 19th of the season. After being excluded from the NL leaderboard for most of the season until recently, he’s again four plate appearances short of qualifying. At .311, he would rank sixth in the NL.
• Lewis Brinson beat out an infield single to go one-for-four and keep his average at .187.
• JB Shuck went up to .198 after going one-for-two as a pinch-hitter and late inning defensive replacement.
• Rivera’s hit pushed his average to .198.
• After going 0-for-4, Justin Bour is two for his last 23 at bats. He’s not reached base in five of his last seven games, and has dropped to .230 for the season.

Relief Pitchers

• Drew Steckenrider pitched a scoreless seventh, striking out one and allowing a base hit.
• Adam Conley struck a guy out but also walked a batter in 2/3 of an inning.
• Brad Ziegler retired the only batter he faced to end the eighth.
• Barraclough’s blown save was his third of the season.
• Drew Rucinski (3-1, 3.68) earned another win by pitching a perfect 10th inning. He’s only pitched in 10 games for a collective 14 2/3 innings.

Transactions

• The Marlins signed 10 international free agents. C Ene Leon, CF Jhonny Melenciano, CF Yoelvis Sanchez, SS Isaac De Lemon, LHP Erick Carrasco, SS Cristhian Rodriguez, SS Carlos Fernandez, RHP Jorge Mercedes, SS Raul Campos, and RHP Luis Lopez.
• 18th round selection RHP Zach Wolf was assigned to the Batavia Muckdogs.
• The DSL Marlins placed RHP Jesus Rosario on the 60-day DL.

Check out today’s prospect primer, Harrison DiNicola.

Minor Leagues

Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp 0, Montgomery Biscuits 1

Jupiter Hammerheads 2, Florida Fire Frogs 3

Greensboro Grasshoppers 1, Hickory Crawdads 5

Batavia Muckdogs 1, West Virginia Black Bears 3

DSL Marlins 2, DSL Astros 1

Tomorrow

Trevor Richards (2-5, 5.06) will take his turn on the hill tomorrow night in game two of the Miami Marlins three-game series against the Rays. First pitch is set for 7:10PM at Marlins Park.

Next: Marlins Welcome Rays for Citrus Series

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