Miami Marlins Drop Marathon to Rays in Citrus Series

It took 16 innings, 17 pitchers, 35 hits, 27 strikeouts, 510 pitches, and nearly six hours, but the Tampa Bay Rays eventually topped the Miami Marlins with 6,259 in attendance at Marlins Park on Tuesday night.

The Rays got to reliever Brett Graves for five runs in the 16th inning. It’s a shame, because Graves had been serviceable for three innings for the Miami Marlins before Tampa Bay touched him. Graves had hit a batter, allowed two singles, and walked one before the wheels came off in the final inning.

Trevor Richards started for the Miami Marlins and surrendered four runs in the first two innings. He got half of them back on the power of his own bat in the second.

Richards allowed nine hits over five innings in total, striking out five. He didn’t walk a batter, and faced his last batter with the Miami Marlins trailing, 4-2.

Brian Anderson and J.T. Realmuto got Richards off the hook for the loss in the bottom of the inning. JB Shuck opened with a walk, Starlin Castro followed with a single, and Anderson knocked Shuck in with a single into right field. Realmuto tied it with a sacrifice fly.

The score would remain knotted at four through many pitchers and many innings. In the top of the 16th, Graves surrendered five runs on a hit batsman, two singles, two doubles, and two walks. Things got interesting again for the Miami Marlins in the bottom of the inning.

Vidal Nuno, who eventually earned the Tampa Bay victory, is an AL relief pitcher who went two-for-two from the plate. On his second hit, in the 16th inning, he pulled up lame legging out a single and was lifted for a pinch runner. Rays backup catcher Jesus Sucre opened the bottom of the inning as Tampa Bay’s pitcher.

Sucre allowed consecutive singles to Lewis Brinson, Derek Dietrich, and Castro. Bryan Holaday scored Brinson on a sacrifice fly. Sucre was then lifted in favor of Jose Alvarado. Realmuto then grounded into a game-ending double play with the next at bat, but not really. He was ruled safe on review, and so Dietrich, who had crossed the plate on the play, was awarded a run. Now 9-6, the Marlins called on Dan Straily to pinch hit. Straily, of course, drew a seven-pitch walk to keep things alive. Cameron Maybin, who was 1-for-8 in the contest, grounded out to second to end the game for real.

Hitting

• Bour collected singles in each of his first three plate appearances. He then went 0-for-3 the rest of the way.
• Anderson, who was 1-for-5 overall, got his only hit with runners in scoring position, because of course he did. He’s now hitting .416 in that situation this season, second in the National League.
• Realmuto went 1-for-7 with two RBI to drop his average all the way down to .306, but he again collected enough plate appearances to qualify for the NL leaderboard. He ranks eighth in the Senior Circuit at this time. He’s also eighth with a .904 OPS and fifth with a .544 SLG.
• Rojas went 2-for-5 and drew two walks, and is now .255 for the season.

Relievers

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• Tayron Guerrero allowed two hits and struck a batter out in one inning, getting through the sixth in scoreless fashion.
• Drew Steckenrider pitched a scoreless seventh and whiffed two while allowing one hit.
• Brad Ziegler struck out a batter in a perfect eighth, and now has his ERA down to 4.95.
• Kyle Barraclough gave up two hits and a walk, but also struck out the side in a scoreless ninth inning.
• Elieser Hernandez lasted two scoreless inning, allowing only a walk and a strikeout.
• Adam Conley struck out two in a scoreless 12th inning.

Minor Leagues

Oklahoma City Dodgers 4, New Orleans Baby Cakes 0

Montgomery Biscuits 3, Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp 1

Florida Fire Frogs 6, Jupiter Hammerheads 1

Hickory Crawdads 5, Greensboro Grasshoppers 1

Batavia Muckdogs 5, West Virginia Black Bears 4

DSL Red Sox1 4, DSL Marlins 3

GCL Nationals 4, GCL Marlins 2

Later

Jose Urena (2-9, 4.40) will take the hill opposite Matt Andriese (1-3, 3.86) just after noon at Marlins Park.

Next: The Importance of Independence Day Baseball

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