Marlins hit four long homers but come up short

MIAMI -- Not even two home runs apiece from Giancarlo Stanton and Garrett Jones could overcome the Brewers' firepower on Friday night.

In fact, the four no-doubt blasts were not nearly enough, as behind a pair of two-run homers by Mark Reynolds and three doubles and two RBIs from Carlos Gomez, the Brewers breezed to a 9-5 victory in the series opener.

The roof was open at Marlins Park, and the ball was flying, as the Marlins' four solo shots combined with three homers by the Brewers to set a stadium record of seven homers. It was the 10th time the Marlins had hit as many as four homers in a game and the first since they belted five in a 13-12 loss in 10 innings at Milwaukee on July 3, 2012. It was only their second time doing so at Miami, and first at Marlins Park. On June 7, 2012, six home runs were hit between the Marlins and the Braves. Stanton went deep that night as well.

"Homers all day," Stanton said. "Not too many times you get four homers and get beat by four."

Khris Davis added a solo shot for Milwaukee, which pounded Tom Koehler for seven runs.

"I just didn't throw enough quality pitches," said Koehler, who had not allowed a home run at home all season. "They were aggressive early. They seemed to hit every mistake that was made pretty hard. They're a good team, and you can't make that many mistakes, too.

"It wasn't falling behind guys or anything like that. It was when I had an opportunity to put guys away I didn't do it. Early in the count I tried to make some quality pitches, caught too much plate and they hit it hard."

Stanton posted his third multihomer game of the season, and 12th of his career, which ties Hanley Ramirez for a franchise mark. ESPN Stats and Info estimated Stanton's first homer at 440 feet. His second drive, over the Budweiser Bar on the main concourse, was believed to be even longer at 444, but the longest drive of the night came from Davis (448).

With 14 homers so far, Stanton passed Colorado's Troy Tulowitzki (13) for the most in the National League.

Jones had his first two-homer game as a Marlin and seventh of his career.

For Milwaukee, Reynolds now has 20 multihomer games.

Brewers right-hander Marco Estrada gave up all of the Marlins' homers, and he leads the Majors with 16 blasts allowed.

"I just think I started elevating a little more than I wanted to in the later innings and obviously paid for it," Estrada said.

Oddly, because of the solo home runs, Estrada didn't pitch out of the stretch until he allowed a two-out single to Marcell Ozuna in the seventh inning.

The Marlins trailed, 7-2, after five innings, and the middle relief was again an issue.

Brad Hand threw two innings of relief, but he allowed Davis' homer in the sixth inning and a second run in the seventh.

Hand, a lefty who has been used as a starter and long reliever, has a 6.38 ERA. The club is weighing its options to patch up the middle innings.

"There's opportunity for guys to take advantage of those innings," manager Mike Redmond said. "We'll just continue plugging guys in there. And we need zeros. If our starters are going to get down early in the game -- which is going to happen -- those guys need to keep us in the game. They haven't really been able to do that this year."

Koehler entered the game almost unhittable at home. The Miami right-hander was 3-0 with a 0.64 ERA (two earned runs in 28 innings) and just 13 hits allowed at Marlins Park.

The Brewers on Friday night tagged him with nine hits and two homers in five innings.

"He's had some really good outings, and tonight he just had a tough time executing his pitches," Redmond said. "He made a lot of mistakes out over the middle of the plate. This is a very aggressive team, and obviously you saw the power they have in the middle of their lineup. And when you make mistakes against good teams they make you pay."

Stanton's first homer came with two outs in the first inning. Coming on a two-strike fastball, it deflected off the batter's eye wall well beyond the 418-foot mark in dead center.

Stanton paces the Majors with 47 RBIs. No Marlin has reached 50 RBIs by June 1, and Stanton has seven games to try to reach the milestone.

After giving up the first homer to Stanton, Estrada retired 10 straight before Jones blistered a no-doubt drive into the second deck in right field.

Miami's other homers came in a three-run seventh inning.

"You're not going to win too many games [giving up] nine runs," Stanton said. "This ain't the AL."