Marlins squander early chances vs. Richard

MIAMI -- Runs have been hard to come by for the Marlins all month, and Saturday was another day the offense dried up at the most inopportune times.
On a night the lineup tallied nine hits and left eight on base, Miami was blanked, 1-0, by the Padres at Marlins Park. The difference was Ryan Schimpf's two-out home run in the fourth inning off José Ureña.
The Marlins were shut out for the 10th time this year, and for the third time this month, they lost 1-0. In August, Miami has a National League-low 89 runs scored.
"I feel like we're letting some games get away from us lately," first baseman Chris Johnson said. "Hopefully, we come out tomorrow and win the series."
Johnson was the walk-off hero in Friday's 7-6 comeback win, which at the time seemingly gave the club some momentum because it was able to steal a game after trailing by four in the late innings.
But on Saturday, lefty Clayton Richard threw seven shutout innings, adding to the offensive frustration. The Marlins had a runner reach third base in each of the first three innings, only to be denied.
"You've always got to tip your cap to the opponent when he does as well as he did," Johnson said. "He kept us off our gameplan. He worked both sides of the plate. Worked all his pitches, off-speed, made different variations with his fastball, with the two-seam and the hard one. He did well. He got us to put the ball in play weakly and not get anything going."
The tone was set in the first inning. Robert Andino and Martín Prado each singled to open the frame, and after Christian Yelich's fielder's choice grounder to first put runners on the corners with one out, Marcell Ozuna bounced into a 6-4-3 double play.
In the second, Miami collected three straight two-out singles to load the bases before Andino grounded out to end the threat.
Prado, who collected four hits on the night, doubled to open the third and advanced to third base on Yelich's ground ball. But Ozuna bounced back to the mound. After Jeff Francoeur walked, Johnson flied out to right.

Miami had one runner reach second after the third inning: pinch-runner Dee Strange-Gordon in the eighth.
"Obviously, those are opportunities that you hope don't come back and get you later," Mattingly said. "Tonight, in a 1-0 game, you think about those."