Marlins' aggressiveness can't stop their nearly month-long skid

MIAMI – For 20 seconds, it looked as though the tide would finally turn in the Marlins’ favor.

Over the past month, runs have been at a premium for Miami. Hard-hit balls directly at fielders. Missed opportunities with runners in scoring position.

With the Marlins mounting a ninth-inning rally on Friday night against the Angels, Javier Sanoja sent a liner off third baseman Denzer Guzman’s glove and down the left-field line.

This was finally it. The loanDepot park crowd began to roar in anticipation.

Leo Jiménez, who had just knocked an RBI single to cut the deficit to one, raced around the bases as Jose Siri retrieved the ball and fired a one-hopper to catcher Tyler Heineman.

Just like that, Jiménez was out at home – confirmed by replay review – in a 4-3 loss. For the second time this week, the Marlins (58-59) had recorded the final out on the bases.

“[I’m] good with the send there,” manager Clayton McCullough said. “It took a really nice throw, guy running a long way for it to pick it up there, and tough angle to make that throw home going back across. I love the aggressiveness by Blake [Lalli], and really have since he's been our third-base coach. I think he does a great job of balancing aggressiveness in there. Two outs and [a] chance to tie it up, so all good with me.”

It’s not a stretch to wonder whether Miami’s offensive struggles have an already aggressive club trying to force the issue to manufacture runs. Entering the series opener, the Marlins ranked second in the Majors for most outs on the bases (47). This included Tuesday’s game-ending attempted steal of third, but doesn’t take into account Esteury Ruiz being thrown out at home on Otto Lopez’s grounder to third in Friday’s third inning.

Each play is magnified. Even though Marlins starters allowed just 10 earned runs across 36 innings (2.50 ERA) on their 3-4 road trip, the margin for error is slim.

“I have faith in our hitters,” said right-hander Tyler Phillips, who permitted just a solo shot to Mike Trout over four-plus innings. “Baseball is a hard game. Sometimes balls fall, sometimes they don't. I saw earlier that the Red Sox have like a .546 BABIP right now. They're having balls sneak through holes, fall into play. Sometimes it happens, sometimes it doesn't. That's just baseball.”

Here’s a look at how the Marlins’ numbers have changed since they were a season-high 10 games over .500 to now.

Through July 9:

Runs per game: 4.62 (11th)
BA with RISP: .261 (T-8th)
BA: .255 (T-5th)
OBP: .332 (6th)
SLG: .413 (9th)
K%: 21.3% (T-9th best)
BB%: 9.1% (12th best)

Since July 10:

Runs per game: 3.09 (29th)
BA with RISP: .236 (22nd)
BA: .226 (26th)
OBP: .296 (T-25th)
SLG: .359 (27th)
K%: 22.3% (18th)
BB%: 8.0% (T-20th)

“We're just not stringing a ton together like we usually do,” said Kyle Stowers, who recorded his fifth career game of at least four hits. “It’s a team game, but I think offensively, we could be better. Like I said, usually we're really good at stringing things together, kind of feeding off of that, and we just haven't been doing that like we usually do. So not necessarily sure what exactly needs to change. If anything, just continuing to create as many opportunities like we did tonight.”

Another major factor is the middle-infield production. For much of this season, All-Star Lopez and Xavier Edwards led all MLB double-play tandems in WAR. It was inevitable over the course of a long season that there would be slumps, but both of theirs have come at the same time.

Twenty-one games ago, Lopez led the National League batting average race by 19 points. He has seen it dip from .345 to .315, now trailing Luis Arraez (.323) for the crown. Though Lopez won’t make excuses, much of this slide coincides with the injury he sustained to his right ring finger on July 18 that kept him out for two games.

Edwards has gone from a slash line of .302/.386/.428 through July 9 to .214/.275/.238 since July 10.

“Those two in particular are very important to the success that we've had,” McCullough said pregame. “But I think most nights when we win games, we also bring up the contributions from others. To win a lot of games and to withstand some tougher stretches, you need contributions to come from a number of people in the roster. So that's what's required now. It's not about who needs to get it done. It's just like we need to get this done and find a way to just do better.”