All Bark No Bite: Miami Marlins Shut Out Again

The Miami Marlins continue to struggle to score runs.

For the 13th time in their first 68 games this season, and for the second game in a row, the Miami Marlins couldn’t cross the plate. The hosting St. Louis Cardinals, and the 41,274 fans on hand at Busch Stadium were all-too-happy to see the Marlins handed a 5-0 loss. For context, the Marlins were blanked 14 times in all of last season, and didn’t get shut out for the 13th time until the second-to-last game of the year. That team finished 63-98.

The Miami Marlins didn’t have any trouble getting runners on base, although nobody reached via free pass. The team totaled eight hits, equalling the Cardinals output for the game. Miguel Rojas was the only one to notch an extra-base hit, with a two-out double in the seventh inning. He was stranded when Austin Dean struck out one batter later.

Brian Anderson was the only Miami Marlins hitter to get more than one hit in the game, with a pair of singles to push his average to .246 and a stellar defensive play or two. Garrett Cooper also flashed him some leather in this contest. Unfortunately, a traffic jam in short-center field between Starlin Castro, JT Riddle, and Curtis Granderson resulted in an error on the part of Castro in the fifth inning.

Elieser Hernandez started his second game of the season, and his second start versus St. Louis. He was also saddled with his second loss against the club, despite pitching well enough for a Quality Start. He struck out six and didn’t walk anyone over six innings, allowing two runs, but only one earned, on five hits. Wei-Yin Chen pitched a 1-2-3 seventh before starting the eighth by allowing back-to-back singles. Austin Brice relieved him and got two quick outs from Paul Goldschmidt and Marcell Ozuna before Dexter Fowler hit a three-run homer to put the game out of reach. But really, it was out of reach long before.

Below the major league level, the New Orleans Baby Cakes (39-32) took a 5-3 decision over the Albuquerque Isotopes (31-40). Gabriel Guerrero hit his seventh homer of the season – a three-run shot – in the ninth inning for the eventual game-winner. Ben Meyer (3-4, 6.71) pitched a Quality Start, allowing one run on a solo homer in six innings of work. R.J. Alvarez collected his 10th save of the season with two strikeouts in the ninth.

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In Batavia, the Muckdogs (1-2) came up short against the Mahoning Valley Scrappers (3-1), 3-1. Evan Edwards hit his first professional home run in the eighth inning to give the Dogs a short-lived 1-1 tie, but Cason Sherrod allowed a pair to score in the bottom of the inning for the loss.

This morning in the Dominican Summer League, the DSL Marlins (8-5) topped the DSL Astros (7-6), 10-9. Cristhian Rodriguez had the big lumber in the game, going three-for-five with a walk, a double, two runs, and two RBI. Julio Machado was two-for-four with a pair of RBI.

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