If we are near the halfway point it is fair to say the Miami Marlins baseball season continues to be a test run to see what is working. The first three games on the road visiting the Washington Nationals this month of July can lead many to believe nothing is working.
In those three games of the four-game series the Marlins were rallied past, walked-off and routed by the Nationals, the Marlins saved leaving the Nations capital with their heads down to end the series at Nationals Park on Sunday.
J.T. Realmuto got a career-high five hits and drove in three runs, Martin Prado had four hits, and the Marlins defeated Washington 10-2 on Sunday to snap a 14-game losing streak to the Nationals.
Miami piled up a season-high 22 hits, the first 19 of which were singles, and salvaged the finale of a four-game series.
In game one of the series, Marlins were up nine runs, Trea Turner hit two homers, including his first career grand slam, and drove in eight runs to help Washington rally past Miami 14-12 in a wild slugfest to end a five-game losing streak.
“We walked eight guys,” Miami manager Don Mattingly said. “You can’t walk eight guys with that club over there. We let them back in the game.”
It was also the most substantial comeback victory since the team left Montreal. The Nationals rallied from eight runs down to defeat Atlanta 13-12 on April 28, 2015.
Marlins were on that end of the comeback, besides game three of the series Mark Reynolds homered twice and drove in a career-high ten runs, Max Scherzer won for the first time since June 5, and the Washington Nationals beat the Marlins 18-4 on Saturday night.
Reynolds (5 for 5) tied his career high for hits and equaled the Nationals’ RBI record. He became the 15th MLB player with a 10-RBI game and second in franchise history; Anthony Rendon had 10 RBIs on April 30, 2017.
Snaping the 14-game losing streak to the Nationals did not get the team above .500 mark, but this team illustrates a twinkle in their eye. Recently, playing their fourth extra-inning game in the past ten days, the Marlins handed the Milwaukee Brewers a 5-4 loss in 12 innings on Starlin Castro’s walk-off single.
“I’m the hero, and I won the game,” Castro said, sarcastically.
The Marlins are 5-4 on the season in extra-inning games. Some games that standout, they defeated the Rays in 10 innings on July 2, stymied the Brewers in 10 on Monday, and won another one in overtime on Wednesday.
“Getting used to these,” said manager Don Mattingly.
Unfortunately, the win was in front of the smallest crowd in Marlins Park history: 5,265. It is still a test run.
The test will end. Even though they and the Mets share the worst winning percentage in the N.L. Marlins have gone 19-17 since June 4 and have won seven of their past 11 series.
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