MIAMI – Time is running out for the Marlins, and the margin for error – both in-game and this season – is slim.
Never was that more apparent than during Tuesday night’s 7-3 loss to the Red Sox in 11 innings at loanDepot park.
Miami (67-66) remained four games behind San Diego for the final National League Wild Card spot. The Marlins have 29 games remaining.
“You play these close games like this, and [there are] moments within games that could potentially swing it another way,” manager Clayton McCullough said. “And when you're not able to get it done, and you get to this juncture of the season, and you have some really hard-fought, intense games, and you come up short, it does sting.”
Here are some of those moments that decided Tuesday’s outcome:
Fifth inning
Through the first two games of the series, Miami has stranded 25 runners and gone 3-for-32 with runners in scoring position.
An already aggressive baserunning club is trying to find ways to scratch across runs. The Marlins entered the game tied with the Nationals for the most outs on the bases (54) this season, and they recorded two more vs. the Red Sox.
Held without a hit through four innings against lefty Payton Tolle, Miami finally got to him in the fifth but could’ve had more.
After Xavier Edwards led off with a double, he got thrown out trying to advance to third on Leo Jiménez’s grounder up the middle. Griffin Conine singled and Esteury Ruiz walked to load the bases before backup catcher Brian Navarreto sent a game-tying sacrifice fly to center to make it 1-1.
Seventh inning
With the game tied at 2, pinch-hitter Jakob Marsee singled to open the inning and Navarreto moved him up with a sac bunt. When Otto Lopez sent a grounder up the middle, however, Marsee tried scoring on the throw to first. Willson Contreras’ throw home beat him, as catcher Connor Wong easily tagged him out.
“You make some outs there that do hurt you, but I think we'll just continue as a group – we know we need to continue to find ways not only now this year but moving forward to make that impactful for us,” McCullough said. “Certainly we always are talking about any of these plays that come up, whether they work out or they don't, how we can just continue as a group to become the best in baseball at aggressiveness.”
10th inning
Navarreto was having an all-around performance between his sac fly, sac bunt and caught stealing.
However, when right-hander Cavin Faucher fired a 92.6 mph cutter to Ceddanne Rafaela in a 2-2 ballgame, Navarreto appeared to be expecting something else. The passed ball hit home-plate umpire David Rackley on the helmet, trickling away to score a run.
“It appeared maybe there was some type of a little bit of a crossup just with as good as Navi generally is back there,” McCullough said. “Maybe [he] was anticipating something else, and then it just took off on him.”
11th inning
Right-hander Tyler Phillips did his best to match Tolle, striking out a career-high-tying seven batters over 4 2/3 innings of one-run ball. Without closer Pete Fairbanks, who landed on the 15-day injured list Tuesday afternoon, six relievers combined to allow just two runs (one earned).
“The best thing you can do is just decompress tonight, go over it in your own head, and hopefully don't dwell on it for too long from a team perspective,” Phillips said. “And then tomorrow, got another game, got to try to salvage.”
Lefty Cade Gibson was up next, and he ran into some bad luck. Boston loaded the bases on Contreras’ single that knocked down first baseman Jiménez and pinch-hitter Jahmai Jones’ walk. Following a forceout, Jarren Duran crushed a sweeper for a grand slam. Gibson had not given up a homer on that pitch all season.
“It's tough because when games are that close against a good team, you've got to find a way to win the ballgame, because we're a good team, too,” Gibson said. “We've got to find a way to win those. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, and sometimes it rains. It's tough. Don't get me wrong; I'm upset, but just go back to the drawing board and figure it out. They're a good team. If you give them enough chances, they're good enough to where they showed it the past couple games. It's tough, man. I really love this team, and I think we could do something special. It just hasn't gone our way the past couple.”