MIAMI -- Heriberto Hernández and Javier Sanoja went deep as the Marlins avoided the sweep in Sunday afternoon’s 10-3 win over the Cubs at loanDepot park.
Six different Marlins drove in at least one run as Miami (72-72) returned to .500 with 18 games remaining and inched within 3 1/2 games of Arizona (75-68), which was still in action against Houston at the time of final out, for the third and final National League Wild Card spot.
The Marlins jumped out to a 2-0 lead against righty Clay Holmes in the second, when Jakob Marsee singled and Hernández walked. Following a double steal, Joe Mack produced an RBI groundout and Otto Lopez added an RBI single.
Lopez would later steal his 30th base of the season, joining Esteury Ruiz as the second Marlin this season to do so. They became the fourth pair of Marlins teammates to reach the mark in the same season along with:
• Luis Castillo and Preston Wilson (2000)
• Luis Castillo and Andy Fox (2002)
• Emilio Bonifácio and José Reyes (2012)
In the fourth, Hernández knocked a solo shot for his team-leading 24th homer of the season, but the Cubs scratched across a run in the third, fourth and fifth innings against righty Tyler Phillips to tie the game at 3.
The Marlins responded by breaking the game open with a five-run fifth.
Graham Pauley walked, Sanoja singled and Kyle Stowers walked to load the bases. Griffin Conine got hit by a pitch to score a run before Owen Caissie, whom the Marlins acquired from the Cubs in a trade this past January, drove in a pair on a ground ball to right. Hernández and Mack tacked on an RBI single apiece.
Sanoja ambushed former Marlin Colin Rea’s first-pitch sinker for a two-run homer in the seventh to make it a 10-3 ballgame.