Four Lessons for the Miami Marlins in Victory

The Miami Marlins topped the San Francisco Giants, 4-2 on Wednesday night.

The win for the Miami Marlins was their ninth in their past 12, which pushes them to a 19-34 overall record. That’s a .358 winning percentage and puts them on pace for a 58-104 season. Keep in mind, however, that they only won 10 of 41 to open the campaign. Anything’s possible in baseball – and winning nine of every 12 will have the Miami Marlins in the World Series conversation with a 101-61 record!

I kid, but seriously, there’s a lot of reasons to tune in to this team going forward. Ever since they called up Harold Ramirez, they’ve been more exciting, less predictable, and just more enjoyable to watch. With increased pitching depth in the high minor leagues and a high-draft pick coming up next week, better days are in our future.

Bumgarner’s Historic Struggles

Historically, Madison Bumgarner has struggled with the Miami Marlins. For whatever reason, the Fish just seem to have his number. No National League team has a better slash line opposite Bumgarner than the Marlins – a .282/.340/.480 mark coming into tonight’s game. That line hasn’t been helped much by his sky-high .336 opposing baBIP when facing the Marlins. He’s now 2-4 with a 1.45 WHIP against Miami.

The Bullpen

Nick Anderson worked a perfect seventh for the Miami Marlins, successfully holding the Giants in a 1-1 tie with the Miami Marlins. He got Kevin Pillar and Brandon Crawford to line out, then got Steven Duggar on a fly out to left field. Anderson placed eight-of-10 pitches over the plate. He’s now 2-2 for the season with the victory, with a 5.16 ERA. Tayron Guerrero struck out two of the batters he faced in a perfect eighth (Stephen Vogt and Mike Yastrzemski), putting 12-of-13 pitches in the strike zone. He’s tracking at a 3.32 ERA and has struck out 27 in 21 2/3 innings.

Sergio Romo earned his 11th save of the season despite some struggles. He gave up a run on two hits and a walk, but also struck out a pair of batters. The game ended when he struck out Duggar on a 2-2 count with runners on first and second.

Alfaro’s Explosion

Catcher Jorge Alfaro went four-for-four in the game, pushing his average from .259 to .278. He hit a two-out single in the second and hit a one-out single in the fourth, although he was erased in a rundown to end the inning moments later. He added a leadoff single and a run in the seventh and a two-out single in the eighth to close out his night.

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Lopez’ Start

Pablo Lopez‘ recent pitching history consist mostly of good starts following bad. His last five GameScores, including last nights were 74, minus-11, 83, 25, and tonight, 62. In the victory against the Giants, he earned no decision, but posted a Quality Start nonetheless. Over six frames, he struck out five, walked one, and surrendered four hits. Unfortunately, that includes the lone blemish on the scoreboard, a solo shot to Brandon Belt in the fourth inning.

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