MIAMI -- The Marlins are the hottest team in baseball.
And the Mariners, certainly, are glad to be done with the whole bunch of them.
On Thursday, Seattle took an 8-4 loss to Miami, closing out a three-game sweep at loanDepot park after the Mariners had arrived in Miami as winners of five of their past six games.
The Marlins have not only won six straight after sweeping the Athletics on the road and now the Mariners back home, but are 26-8 since June 1 -- the best record in Major League Baseball during that span. Seattle is surely happy to be headed out of town as the road trip heads across Florida to St. Petersburg.
“Not the way we wanted to end the series here,” said Seattle manager Dan Wilson, whose team had not been swept in a series since losing three to the visiting Padres on May 15-17.
“Tough one again today. We had some opportunities early in the ballgame, just were not able to capitalize on them. We had some traffic early. We had a chance to get their starter out of the game early. Just were not able to convert those into runs.”
As Wilson said, Seattle was able to put some heat on the Miami pitching corps throughout the series, but it just simply did not push enough runs across.
Seattle failed to score in the first inning on Thursday, after Miami starter Janson Junk walked the first two batters he faced in his first start back from the injured list.
In the second, two errant pickoff throws from Junk led to Josh Naylor coming around to give the Mariners a 1-0 lead. But Miami’s Griffin Conine tied it to lead off the bottom half of the inning with a blast to right, with the Marlins making it 2-1 on a two-out double from Liam Hicks.
Things got away from the Mariners in the fourth, when a sharp grounder fielded by Naylor at first base went awry and helped Miami put up four runs in the inning and take a 6-1 lead into the fifth.
With one down and runners on, Hicks sent a grounder that Naylor ranged to his right, fielded and threw to shortstop Colt Emerson covering the bag.
Emerson fielded the throw for the out at second, but his throw to Bryce Miller covering at first was in the dirt. Miller couldn’t handle it, and Miami’s Jakob Marsee came home for a 3-1 lead.
The Marlins challenged that Emerson had tagged second -- and the call on the field was overturned. So, instead of two outs, the Marlins again had first and second with one out -- and Emerson was charged with two errors on the play.
“I thought Colt was trying to make a really big play there, and you can understand that from a young player trying to step out there and make that big play,” Wilson said. “We gave an opportunity there, and they were able to capitalize on it and score some runs from there.”
Otto Lopez, a first-time All-Star, continued his torrid pace for Miami, racking a triple down the right-field line to clear the bases and make it 5-1, coming home on an RBI single from Kyle Stowers.
The Marlins had leads of five and six runs in the game.
“[Runners on] first and second … we get a double-play ball and we don’t turn it,” said Miller, who walked four in his five innings of work and allowed six runs (four earned) on nine hits. “I have to make the adjustments, though. After the fact, I give up a hit and both score. I don’t know. A lot of things didn’t go my way today. I think if you redo it, probably some things don’t happen the way they did.”
Seattle did do some good things at the plate on Thursday, with Randy Arozarena slugging his 10th home run of the season in the fifth. In the eighth, Dominic Canzone got his 15th, driving in two to pull the Mariners within four runs.
Miami’s bullpen did a little bending, but did not break.
The Mariners will try to set things right before the All-Star break with three against the Rays.
In the final two losses of the series, the Mariners were outscored 10-4 and went 0-for-12 with runners in scoring position.
“It’s been a little tougher time for us right now,” Wilson said. “Those things, when you start playing well, those things start coming around. I know it’s coming. Hopefully it’s going to start [vs. Tampa Bay]."