MVN - Most Valuable Network

Marlins rally in 9th but drop third straight in 10th

On Wednesday night, the Reds could do nothing wrong and the Marlins didn’t do anything right. Until the top of the 9th. The Fish scored six runs in the inning, three coming on a Cody Ross homer to tie the game but it was all for naught as rookie Paul Janish smacked a game winning single down the left field line in his second major league at-bat to give Cincinnati a 7-6 win, their fourth straight over Florida at the Great American Ballpark dating back to 2006.

Ricky Nolasco, fresh off the heels of his best outing of the year, got the start and pitched pretty well but he was victimized by a small strike zone. Or something like that. Bottom 5, two on, two out and Jerry Hairston Jr. at the plate. On a 2-2 pitch, Nolasco freezes him with the slider. If this thing were anywhere closer to the heart of the plate, it’d have been in it’s right ventricle. Home plate umpire Larry Vanover called it a ball. Next pitch: Hairston triples. An intentional walk later, he’s plated by Brandon Phillips and Nolasco gets the hook. 25 of his 97 pitches came in the prolonged 5th. The bullpen was as sub-par as it’s ever been this year in relief. Logan Kensing gave up a run in the 6th and Justin Miller gave up a run in both of his innings. Through the first three games of this series, the pen’s ERA is an inflated 7.50.

Three days after going 8 innings, giving up just one run and striking out 9 Mets, Bronson Arroyo breezed through 7 innings, scattering just 5 hits and punching out 5. He handed things over to the bullpen, 99% sure that he was going to be awarded with his second straight win. Mike Lincoln pitched a 1-2-3 8th, sending fans to the exits early in an effort to beat traffic. They soon learned why you never leave a baseball game before the twenty-seventh out is recorded. Lincoln’s next four hitters: Single, single, RBI double, HBP. So Dusty Baker goes to his closer, Francisco Cordero, who hasn’t blown a 9th inning lead in his last 17 appearances. His first pitch is ripped into center field by Matt Treanor, plating two more and bringing Ross, who is battling with Alfredo Amezaga for playing time, to the plate representing the tying run. After getting behind 0-2, he tied the game with his second homer of the series. Way to make a case for yourself. Ross has now hit safely in his last 6 starts. He will most definitely get the nod tomorrow and should be patrolling center field for most of the Royals series.

Renyel Pinto looked uncomfortable but still managed to wriggle out of trouble in the bottom of the 9th to send the game to extra innings. Despite his wildness, Fredi Gonzalez chose to send Pinto back out for another inning. That decision would prove to be the wrong one. Pinto got the first two outs in the 10th but then gave up two walks straight walks. With pinch runner Johnny Cueto standing at second, Janish smacked a tailing changeup to right. Game over.

For those keeping track, that’s three straight losses. Two of them can be blamed on ill advised decisions by Fredi. Hopefully he remembers to bring his brain with him to the yard tomorrow as the Marlins look to avoid the sweep in the finale of this four game set. Andrew Miller will match up against Matt Belisle.

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 15th, 2008 at 2:48 am and is filed under Game Recaps. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.