Mo’ Money Mo’ Problems: Marlins take season series from Dodgers

Bour, Realmuto put away 2017 National League Champs

It wasn’t easy, but the Marlins were able to pull off the series (and season) win against the Dodgers. The final score, 6-5, reflects how much of a nail-biter this game was. Miami jumped out to a pretty solid lead at 5-1 through 5 innings of work courtesy of Elieser Hernandez. The Dodgers came storming back once the ball had been handed over to Junichi “Here We Go Again” Tazawa and Drew Steckenrider. The Marlins’ offense never slowed and the bullpen didn’t sacrifice a run from the 7th through the 9th innings.

Walker Buehler made his first big league start where he struck out seven in his first four innings. The Marlins still held the lead thanks to Brian Anderson and Starlin Castro who both pushed in runs in the first and third innings respectively.

Justin Bour hit his 9th home run of the season in the 5th inning to bring the score to 4-1. Anderson would single to right in the next at bat and was driven in by Martin Prado to put an end to Buehler’s campaign. Our very own gustavopim got a shout-out from the Marlins social team! Maybe he is the good luck charm?

At this point, I was throwing my feet up on the coffee table and was ready to drift in the golden haze of Dodger Domination. And then Tazawa came in…

Joc Pederson doubled to center, but he was pushed to third base by Justin Turner’s fly out. Yasmani Grandal then singled to right to score Pederson. Cody Bellinger doubled to right and Grandal moved to third. Drew Steckenrider came in to clean up the mess, but Tazawa left him in too much of a bind for him to get out scoreless. For the Dodgers to get back to last year’s success, apparently they just need Tazawa to pitch BP to them every night. The Dodgers got out of the 6th tied with the Fish 5-5.

Pedro Baez came in after Buehler was retired. He moved past JB Shuck and Prado when Realmuto came through with his 6th home run. The 6-5 score would remain for the rest of the game.

Steckenrider, Barraclough, and Ziegler wouldn’t have any issues with the once again mortal Dodgers. I would expound some more, but I have to cover today’s 12 o’clock game as well! Take it away Donny!

Swordfish: Elieser Hernandez (.177 WPA)

Flounder: Junichi Tazawa…maybe we should just call him “Flounder” Tazawa until things pick up? (-.145 WPA)

WP: Drew Steckenrider (2-1)

LP: Pedro Baez (1-2)

Save: Brad Ziegler (7)

Moment of the Game: I’ll go with the Realmuto home run. He’s 100% the leader of this team, and hopefully he’ll continue to bootstrap the team.

Please leave any Icthy picks in the comments below. Remember, we just introduced a new grand prize for the contest this season! Here are the updated 2018 standings entering this weekend.

Matchup Summary

As the Marlins 9th different starting pitcher this season, Hernández will make his first start after allowing one run in three innings out of the bullpen. He’ll look to lead the Marlins to a series (and season) win over the Dodgers.

Buehler has greatly improved since his role as a reliever last year. His walk ratio specifically has improved, going from 7.7 to 2.9. Honestly, the Dodgers are playing so poorly that it really doesn’t matter who’s pitching, they need to make strides on every side of the ball if they expect to compete in their division. With a record that is alarmingly close to Miami’s with a +$100 million payroll, last night was the Dodgers’ seventh consecutive loss to a last place team including the Marlins, Padres and Reds.

Thread Question: Which pitcher in the Marlins farm system do you think holds the most promise?