Two home runs by Connor Norby with a combined offense of 11 hits and excellent pitching work by right-hander Edward Cabrera led the Marlins to a 10-1 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies, in the fourth game of the series tied at two wins per side before 15,202 fans present on Sunday afternoon at the LoanDepot in Miami.
The Marlins opened the game by scoring two runs off Phillies starter right-hander Seth Johnson on a walk to Xavier Edwards and a home run (#7) to center field by rookie Norby (his second in the last two games and in the same situation).
They then added another run in the second inning with a double by Venezuelan rookie Javier Sanoja, his first hit in the Major Leagues, a ground ball through first base by Nick Fortes that advanced the runner to third base and a sacrifice fly by Edwards.
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The home team scored seven runs in the third inning, with a walk to Jesus Sanchez, consecutive hits by Jonah Bride, Otto Lopez, and Griffin Conine, a double by Sanoja, and a double by Fortes that led to Johnson’s departure from the mound.
Right-hander Max Lazar came to his rescue, allowing Norby’s (#8) second home run of the afternoon to put the score at 10-0.
On the Marlins mound, right-hander Edwards Cabrera was in excellent form, throwing five consecutive scones without allowing a hit, and only one man reached base on a walk.
In the sixth, the Dominican allowed a hit and another man reached the bases due to an error by third baseman Norby, but gave the zero, forcing Aramis Garcia to hit into a double play and eliminating Kyle Schwarber via strikes.
In the eighth inning, Lake Bachar pitched for the Marlins, striking out all three batters he faced.
In the ninth, the Phillies saved the shutout by scoring a run off left-hander Jonathan Bermudez on a single by Schwarber, a walk to Buddy Kennedy, and a rocket by Bryce Harper.
The victory went to Dominican Cabrera (4-6-4.88) who pitched seven complete innings without allowing runs, allowed three hits, gave up one walk, and struck out six.
The loss was suffered by Johnson (0-1-34.71) and there were no points for saved games.
In this series, the Marlins hit 30 hits that included four home runs, scored 21 runs, and committed five errors, while the visitors added 38 hits with two home runs, stepped on the plate on 22 occasions, and misplayed twice.
Miami remains the second-worst team with the fewest wins in the National League with 54 and number 28 in both circuits.
The reason for this disaster is that no team can hope to win many games with poor statistics on the most important aspects of baseball. Let’s take a look at them.
In collective batting, Miami occupies last place in the National in on-base percentage (.298), walks received (347), runs scored (549), RBIs (528), and OPS (.674).
He ranks 14th in slugging (.376) and home runs (133) and 13th in total bases (1,813). In pitching, they are the team with the fewest saved games in the National League with 27, second to last in effectiveness (4.76) and WHIP (1.37), second with the most walks allowed (496), fourth with the most hits allowed (1,263) and twelfth in average allowed against opposing batters (.256).
Miami’s pitching staff is second in the Major Leagues with the most walks per nine innings at 3.52 and the most pitches thrown to the plate per inning at 17.04.
The positive thing for the Marlins right now is that the team’s management decided to develop the franchise’s young talent and a good level of performance is observed among some of these players with an eye toward improving results for next season.
The Marlins begin a three-game series in Pittsburgh against the Pirates on Monday (6:40 p.m.). They then travel to Washington for four games against the Nationals. They return to Miami on Tuesday, Sept. 17 to host the Los Angeles Dodgers in three games.
