LOS ANGELES -- Over a 48-hour span earlier this week, the Marlins dropped a pair of heartbreakers on the road and lost closer Pete Fairbanks to an injury.
It would’ve been easy to sulk, but not this young ballclub.
Liam Hicks and Esteury Ruiz went deep as the Marlins outslugged the reigning two-time World Series champion Dodgers, 3-2, on Wednesday afternoon at Dodger Stadium in an early season litmus test for a postseason hopeful squad.
Miami won back-to-back road games for the first time this season, and captured its first series at Chavez Ravine since April 23-25, 2018.
“For our group to have some disappointing losses within this road trip, but to finish the way we did -- to come get a couple in a row here and win a series," manager Clayton McCullough said, "everyone will feel good and [have a] chance to enjoy the off-day and get ready for a big series with the Phillies."
It didn’t come without some drama.
With the Marlins nursing a one-run lead, McCullough turned to Calvin Faucher for the save opportunity after Tyler Phillips got the save in Tuesday’s 2-1 win. During Fairbanks’ absence, Miami will go with a closer-by-committee approach.
Faucher walked consecutive batters to open the ninth before McCullough paid him a mound visit. Following a sacrifice bunt and an intentional walk of Shohei Ohtani to load the bases, Freddie Freeman sent a grounder to second baseman Xavier Edwards, who chased down Ohtani -- who was called out for leaving the baseline before Edwards tagged him -- then touched first base for the unconventional game-ending double play.
“It just speaks to the character of our group and kind of how we're going to play throughout,” said Edwards, who scored the go-ahead run in the eighth inning on Javier Sanoja’s RBI single. “We're going to keep going, we're going to keep fighting. Tough one Sunday, another tough one here on Monday night that we had a chance to win, and then bounce back with two straight wins against some good arms and a really good team.”
The Marlins did just enough against the Dodgers’ top three starters (Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Ohtani and Tyler Glasnow) to win the series.
Hicks, who was a late scratch from Tuesday’s lineup due to illness, got the Marlins going by ambushing Glasnow’s first pitch of the second inning -- a center-cut 93.9 mph four-seamer.
With his team-leading seventh homer, Hicks surpassed his total as a rookie in 2025. His seven taters are the second most by a catcher in franchise history through the first 29 games of a season (Charles Johnson had nine in 2001). His 28 RBIs are the second most in the Majors.
Teams are taking notice of the second-year player’s production. The Dodgers intentionally walked Hicks for the first time in his career with a runner at third and one out in the sixth.
“It just shows what type of team this is -- super gritty like last year,” Hicks said. “It just shows you we're in every game. Every game is going to be close. It's going to be stressful, but it's cool to be in those moments and capitalize. Probably last year, [when] that happened early in the year, it's a whole different story. So it's good that we're growing.”
Ruiz, acquired from the Dodgers in December, slugged a go-ahead solo shot against Glasnow for his first hit as a Marlin in the fifth. Like Hicks, Ruiz pulled a first-pitch four-seamer for his ninth career MLB homer.
Ruiz, who received his 2025 World Series ring before Monday’s game, was making just his second start after beginning the season on the injured list with a left oblique strain.
“It's no secret for anybody that the Dodgers are, like, the best team in baseball right now,” Ruiz said via interpreter Luis Dorante Jr. “ ... I think we have a lot of talent around the clubhouse. There's a really good pitching staff right there. We got people that can hit the ball out. There's a lot of velocity. I think there's a lot of pieces there that we can get into the playoffs.”
One of those key pieces is ace Sandy Alcantara, who tallied the 100th quality start of his career (and fifth this season) by limiting the Dodgers to just two runs over six innings while exorcising his Dodger Stadium demons. (He entered with a 14.46 ERA in five previous starts at the ballpark.)
During the three-game series, Miami's starters held one of the Majors’ most potent lineups, which was missing Mookie Betts, to four runs across 16 frames (2.25 ERA).
“We know that we have a young team, but it doesn't matter for us,” Alcantara said. “We're hungry to play. We're hungry to win, so that's the most important thing. We take advantage of the opportunity. I think, as a group, we've been doing great, trying to be on the same page. Every time we take the field, it's a battle for us.”