Miami Marlins Locked in Offensive Battle With Orioles

The Miami Marlins entered game four of their series against the Baltimore Orioles going for the sweep. It’s been back-and-forth through the first three innings

Miami Marlins starting pitcher Jordan Yamamoto started out this, the final game of the four-game set, by surrendering a double to Orioles leadoff hitter Hanser Alberto. He then struck out the side on five pitches each to give the Marlins their shot.

And it didn’t take the Miami Marlins long to get on the board. On Orioles starting pitcher Wade LeBlanc’s first offering of the night, Miami leadoff hitter Jonathan Villar took him deep into the empty left field bleachers. Villar, of course, hit 24 last season for these same Orioles. LeBlanc then retired the Marlins 2-3-4 hitters, striking out catcher Francisco Cervelli.

The Orioles led off the bottom of the second in much the same way as Miami led off their half of the first — with a home run. Renato Nunez took Yamamoto deep to roughly the same area as Villar hit his to. Chance Sisco then doubled to set the table for an early lead.

Monte Harrison turned in an absolute gem of a defensive play for the Marlins first out of the inning, with a running catch on an Austin Hays liner into right-center.

A Yamamoto strikeout of Chris Davis and a Lewis Brinson putaway preserved the tie, leaving Sisco in scoring position.

With one out in the bottom of the second, we saw one of the rarest outcomes of a Brinson plate appearance — a full count walk. Brinson has now drawn 38 walks in 714 major league plate appearances for a walk-rate just a tick over five percent. Veteran acquisition Logan Forsythe drove Brinson to third with a double, the 150th of his 10 season career.

Magneuris Sierra sacrificed Brinson home with a flyout to right field to put the Marlins back up by a run, 2-1. Harrison ended the threat by grounding out weakly to the pitcher.

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When next we caught up with Harrison, he was running full-tilt to collect an Anthony Santander fly ball. Harrison connected with the wall at full speed, and remained in the prone position for a few minutes before resuming his role in center field. Santander ended up with an RBI-triple, driving home Alberto and re-tying the game at two. Santander scored on a Dwight Smith Jr. sacrifice fly to set the score at 3-2, bad guys. Harrison, by the way, collected two of the three fly-ball-outs in the inning after his “connection” with the wall. He was a football player, after all.

Villar and Jon Berti each made easy outs for LeBlanc, then Cervelli ripped a double down the left-field line. Aguilar hit an easy grounder at O’s third baseman Pat Valaika, but was safe with a single on a bad throw. Cervelli was almost gunned down trying to score, but dove safely back into third under the tag.

Cervelli and Aguilar came home on a Brian Anderson single to retake the lead, 4-3. Cisco led off the fourth with a solo home run to tie the game at four. Stay tuned for more, and thanks for reading.