Lopez & Cooper Lead Miami Marlins in Destruction of Crew

The Miami Marlins tattooed the Milwaukee Brewers, 16-0 at Miller Park on Wednesday night.

After drafting another eight players in the draft, the Miami Marlins still had a game to play on Wednesday. Pablo Lopez got the start, and struck out seven over six shutout frames. He walked one and allowed three singles. In the meantime, the Marlins struck early and often against a half-dozen Brewers pitchers.

Every Marlins starter finished with at least one base hit, including Lopez, who hit an RBI-double in Miami’s 11-run fifth inning barrage.

Starlin Castro went deep in the first inning for an early lead, hitting his fourth of the season with Garrett Cooper on base. In the third inning, Cooper hit a solo shot of his own, his fifth of the year, and was followed directly by Brian Anderson‘s sixth round-tripper of the season.

Miami’s 11-run fifth inning was their most prolific frame thus far this season, and the 16 runs scored was their most since they dropped 22 on the Texas Rangers on July 26th, 2017. They won that one, 22-10.

The big inning started with a Cooper single, his third hit of the game. Anderson drew a walk before Castro struck out. Harold Ramirez drove home Cooper with a double, then JT Riddle was intentionally walked. Jorge Alfaro got in on the act with a two-run single, followed by a Miguel Rojas RBI-single and Lopez’ double, but the Marlins weren’t done.

Curtis Granderson followed with an RBI-single, then Cooper came up for the second time in the inning, still with one out. After Craig Counsell replaced pitcher Taylor Williams with Corbin Burnes, Cooper added an RBI-single, Anderson reached on a run-scoring error, Castro rapped a double, Ramirez added an RBI-groundout, and Riddle drove Castro home to make it 15-0. Alfaro struck out to end the onslaught.

15 plate appearances in the inning for Miami, and 11 runs came home. Austin Dean, who replaced Granderson in the batting order, added an RBI-ground-rule-double in the eighth to put the cherry on top for the Miami Marlins.

In total, the Marlins racked up 19 hits for the game. Cooper led the way with three singles and the homer, Rojas added two singles and a double, while Alfaro, Dean, Castro and Ramirez all finished with two hits.

It’s always sweeter when you get to face the team that drafted you. I never made it up with them, so it’s just a little icing on the cake to have a good game against them. – Cooper

Outside of Lopez’ solid 75 GameScore, the Miami Marlins bullpen also proved on-point. Jarlin Garcia pitched a scoreless seventh, allowing a double but nothing else. Jeff Brigham did give up a pair of singles, but also struck out two and kept the Crew off the board. Austin Brice issued a pair of free passes but closed the door in the ninth in a very-non-save situation.

Tomorrow at 7:40PM, the two teams will get back at it again. Prior to that, though, the third day of the 2019 MLB Entry Draft will play out, with another 30 players destined for each major league team.

Keep it tuned in here for all your Miami Marlins news.