Different day, same results in the Pacific Northwest.
The Miami Marlins lost their second straight game to the Seattle Mariners on Tuesday, with a 9-3 loss at T-Mobile Park a day after losing 8-1 in Monday’s series opener.
It’s the first time the Marlins have lost two straight games since losing three straight games (one game to the San Francisco Giants, two games to the Colorado Rockies) on May 21-23.
And the Marlins (37-31) followed a similar scenario in losing both days.
▪ The starting pitcher had problems. Edward Cabrera gave up five runs on two homers Tuesday — a three-run shot in the second inning by Cal Raleigh (who was 0 at that hit in his last 21 shots) and a two-run shot in the fourth by Mike Ford — to throw Miami into an early crisis. He only threw four innings.
This came a day after Jesus Luzardo gave up six runs (five of them earned) while throwing just four innings.
▪ The offensive could not convince against a pitcher who mainly throws fastballs. Bryce Miller threw fastballs on 65 of his 89 pitches Monday and kept the Marlins on a one-hit run (a Nick Fortes home run) for six innings.
George Kirby hit fastballs on 69 of his 92 pitches Tuesday and kept the Marlins on an unearned run with three hits while hitting 10 in six innings. Miami’s only run against Kirby came when Jorge Soler’s two-out single hit midway through Garrett Hampson, who grabbed with a one-out single and took second place with a pass.
Garrett Cooper hit a two-run home run against Seattle relief Chris Flexen in the eighth, bringing Miami 8-3.
▪ The bullpen had to eat innings. The Marlins needed four innings from their bullpen both nights and required relievers to run multiple innings to prevent using their primary high-leverage players in situations that didn’t require them.
Huascar Brazoban and Bryan Hoeing both went through two innings Monday and each kept Seattle (33-33) ahead by just a solo home run.
Veteran Archie Bradley, whom the Marlins added to the active roster Tuesday, threw a scoreless fifth inning on Tuesday before allowing all four batters he faced in the sixth to reach base, topped by a three-run Treble by Jose Caballero. Steven Okert then threw two shutout innings before JT Chargois made the eighth pitch and conceded a solo home run to Ford.
Luis Arraez batting average update
Luis Arraez, the Marlins’ second baseman, went 0 for 5 and went without a hit in consecutive games.
It’s the first time since May 10 with the Arizona Diamondbacks and May 12 against the Cincinnati Reds that he has gone without a hit in back-to-back starts.
Arraez’s batting average, down from .403 on Wednesday, is now down to .382.
