NEW YORK – The Marlins showed once again that they are not pushovers. In fact, call them spoilers.
With the Mets in the pennant race, Miami took advantage of New York’s defensive lapses in a 7-4 victory Thursday night at Citi Field.
With Kyle Stowers – who leads the team with 25 homers – on the injured list with a Grade 1 left oblique strain, the Marlins don’t have enough power hitters to wait for the three-run homer. They have to play small ball. The goal is to put the ball in play and advance the runner as much as possible.
Entering Thursday’s action, the Marlins were sixth in the Major Leagues in batted balls in play (3,543).
“That’s kind of the way this team is built,” first baseman Liam Hicks said. “We have a lot of guys that are going to put the ball in play. They are really tough outs and don’t strike out. That’s a big advantage. We take pride in it.”
Thursday’s game was an example of how the Marlins play the game these days. The game went back and forth and was tied at 4-4 going into the top of the seventh inning. But Miami did the little things to take the lead.
With Mets reliever Gregory Soto on the mound, Jakob Marsee led off with a single. Hicks followed and hit a routine ground ball to first baseman Pete Alonso, who fumbled the exchange while trying to get the forceout, putting runners on first and second.
Agustín Ramírez followed and singled to left field. Marsee was going to stop at third base, but outfielder Brandon Nimmo bobbled the ball, which allowed Marsee to score the go-ahead run.
After pinch-hitter Eric Wagaman struck out, Ramírez and Hicks advanced to second and third on a passed ball by catcher Hayden Senger. With the infield in, Otto Lopez hit a ground ball to second baseman Jeff McNeil, but McNeil was unable to get Hicks at the plate, and the Marlins had a two-run lead. Heriberto Hernández then hit a sacrifice fly to send Ramírez home.
“We were trying to put the ball in play. I faced [Soto] before, and he has pretty good stuff,” Lopez said. “He threw me a sinker. I was looking for it, but it was a little off the plate and I just went for it.
“It’s important to get on base and score. For us, it’s to play small baseball. If we have a man on second with less than two outs, we try to do whatever to score that run.”
Alonso didn’t make any excuses for the mistakes his team made in the game.
“Unfortunately, it’s a part of the game,” Alonso said. “The game got away from us there. The mistakes were capitalized upon, and no matter who you play at this level, teams are going to take advantage of those. We gave the Marlins an opportunity, and they capitalized on every opportunity we gave them.”
The bullpen, led by Cade Gibson, shut out the Mets for the final three innings. Gibson ended up getting his third victory of the season.
“We did a lot of good things tonight,” Marlins manager Clayton McCullough said. “We ran the bases really well. We put enough balls in play, and it was death by a thousand cuts – stringing some singles together and being able to score. It was really good to see us create some great opportunities, cash in on the ones that we got.”
