Small-ball Marlins strike again as scorching month continues

ST. LOUIS -- The Marlins have won the season series against the Cardinals for the first time in a decade after Miami's 5-1 victory over St. Louis at Busch Stadium on Saturday.

The win served as another example of the complementary, small-ball style that has fueled the Marlins’ recent success, with Xavier Edwards leading the way.

The Marlins are tied for the third-fewest home runs in the Majors this season (73), instead relying on a high-contact, speed-oriented lineup. Edwards is now batting .298, while Otto Lopez leads the Majors with a .336 average. Miami has stolen an MLB-best 92 bases.

“We realized that it's kind of a nine-versus-one mentality,” said Edwards, who went 3-for-5 with two singles and a double on Saturday. “The more guys we can get on base, the more chances we have to score runs. Or even if it's just one person on base with two outs, it's still an opportunity for us.

“Everyone treats their at-bat the same way, and any way we can help our teammates get on base is a plus for all of us.”

Edwards also extended his hitting streak to six games, recording multihit efforts in half of them after seeing his average dip in June, when he’s slashed .253/.326/.291 with 20 hits in 79 at-bats.

The Marlins struck first in Saturday’s opening frame when Lopez tripled to right field before scoring on an RBI single by Kyle Stowers.

In the third, Edwards singled on a bunt ground ball that was originally ruled an error, moving Joe Mack to second after the catcher opened the inning with a single. The bunt was huge for the second baseman.

“Glad they changed that to a single,” Edwards said. “[I put] a couple good swings on the ball, got the run in [with an RBI single in the fourth] and hit the ball to the left-center gap [on a seventh-inning double], so quality at-bats after the first one.”

Stowers picked up his second RBI later in the third, before Miami added two more runs in the fourth. Jakob Marsee doubled, Griffin Conine advanced him to third and Javier Sanoja followed with an RBI single. That set the stage for Edwards’ two-out single that allowed Sanoja to race home from second.

The Marlins tacked on another run in the seventh when Edwards doubled before Lopez drove him home with a single to right. It marked Lopez’s 34th multihit game of the season.

“This is who we can be,” Edwards said. “It's really fun to be able to play clean baseball and take extra bases and swing the bat well. Play good defense on the other side of the ball, or pitch the ball really well. So, it's kind of just playing complete baseball, and it's been awesome.”

The victory pushed the Marlins to five games over .500 for the first time since they finished the 2023 season at 84-78 to earn a Wild Card berth. Miami has now won seven of its eight series this month (18-5), while outscoring opponents by 40 runs.

“[The team has] continued how they show up each day and make that day the most important,” manager Clayton McCullough said. “When you get on a good run, try to ride it and enjoy it, but I think our group also is very open to their things within a game that we can do better moving forward.

“They always want to be coached, and that's the part that myself and our staff love the most, is that you get to come here and we have a group that is very much laser-focused on winning games and being very selfless, and so, can't ask for any more.”