Marlins play their best ‘brand of baseball' in tight 2-1 loss to Padres

Miami Herald

18 hours ago

It's the second half of the season, and for a team still fighting to reach the .500 mark, there's 'a lot of sense of urgency with every game,' Miami Marlins manager Clayton McCullough said.
So, dropping Monday's series opener 2-1 to the San Diego Padres at loanDepot park certainly stung.
But it was hard for the Marlins to find much fault in their performance.
The result wasn't what they wanted — but the 'brand of baseball,' as McCullough likes to say, was the kind that's fueled their recent surge.
Starter Eury Pérez allowed only two earned runs in five innings pitched — both in the second inning. Josh Simpson and Tyler Phillips each tossed two shutout innings in relief.
'They threw great,' McCullough said. 'Both those guys had a couple of really efficient innings to keep us in a position where we had a chance to come back and potentially win.'
Kyle Stowers swatted his 22nd home run of the season — an MLB-best 12th since June 22. He now has eight homers in July, putting him four shy of Giancarlo Stanton's club record set in 2017.
And the Marlins' offense, which otherwise didn't score, banged out nine hits.
'I liked what we did offensively today,' McCullough said. 'We scattered some hits. … Offensively, our approach was very sound. Unfortunately, the [double-play] ball Gus hits to third [in the third inning] was right on the screws. That's how things go.
'If we continue to take at-bats of that quality and that nature, that puts you in a good position to be able to create innings and score runs.'
In the third inning, Jesús Sánchez was doubled off second after Agustín Ramírez lined a hard-hit ball to third baseman Manny Machado off starter Randy Vásquez. Then in the eighth, Sánchez grounded into a double play after Xavier Edwards led off with an infield single.
The Padres grabbed the lead in the second inning when Jackson Merrill singled to right, scoring Xander Bogaerts, who had led off with a double to center. Martin Maldonado followed with an RBI double down the left-field line to make it 2-0.
That was all Pérez gave up while striking out five and walking two. He threw 87 pitches, 52 for strikes.
'This is the first time I've faced this lineup and this is an incredible lineup — they're very talented,' Pérez said via team interpreter Luis Dorante Jr. 'So you've got to compete all the time and try your best, try to work around the zone and try to get as few pitches as you can to get the outs.'
'Just another solid outing,' McCullough said. 'I thought he really made some nice adjustments the last few innings. Had a good heater again, and I was really happy with the breaking ball and secondary stuff he threw tonight. His ability to utilize his entire repertoire tonight, especially as the outing wore on, is a great sign.'
▪ During Sandy Alcantara's on-field bullpen session pregame in preparation for Wednesday's start, McCullough stood in the batter's box without taking a swing.
'It looks a lot faster than it used to in my younger days,' McCullough quipped. 'I did not want to take a hack and risk straining my oblique. And the embarrassment of swinging and missing.'
On a more serious note, McCullough explained his presence in the box.
'I do that sometimes,' he said. 'You get a bit of a visual, provide a different level of feedback, just see how it's coming in and also get in there and chat with [catcher] Nick [Fortes] as it's going on [about] what he's seeing. Instead of standing back behind there, get in and see what it looks like coming forward.'
▪ Outfielder Derek Hill, who injured his finger in the batting cage Saturday, was not in the lineup again, but came in to pinch-run for Liam Hicks in the ninth.