MIAMI - Three days ago, the Miami Marlins were riding high after sweeping Seattle. By Sunday afternoon, they were staring straight at the All-Star break with a very different feeling.
Cleveland completed a sweep of Miami with a 5-2 win in the finale, and the Marlins never led once in the series. It was the first time Miami had been swept since the run that began with the late-May drubbing at the hands of the Mets. The timing could hardly be better for a team that suddenly looks like it could use every bit of the pause.
Even with the rough weekend, the Marlins are still 52-45 and remain one game ahead of St. Louis for the final National League Wild Card spot. They also finished one game short of tying the franchise record for wins in a first half, a mark that would have looked more than acceptable back in spring training.
“We would have certainly signed up for it,” said Clayton McCullough after the game. “We did play to a level that put ourselves in a good spot this many games in-that part's great.
On the other side, we know how much we have ahead of us. I don't like to look a whole lot backwards, but I do think that we've done a lot of really terrific things on an individual level in this half, and collectively as a team, and how we've been able to put this together.
We just have to get back to it and have to play really well moving forward for us to continue winning games.”
The offense never found a rhythm against Cleveland. Over the three games, Miami managed just five runs and went 3-for-19 with runners in scoring position. On Sunday, the Marlins were 1-for-8 in those spots and left the bases loaded with nobody out in the second inning.
Guardians pitching, led by left-hander Joey Cantillo with nine strikeouts, kept Miami off balance all afternoon and finished with 14 Marlins punchouts by leaning heavily on off-speed stuff.
“We just didn't really make a whole lot of adjustments against it,” said McCullough. “We had the one inning where we were able to load them up with nobody out and were unable to cash in early on. They pitched well, we didn't do a whole lot offensively to make adjustments or really do a lot to stress them out during this series, which we've seen.”
The crowd of more than 17,000 had to wait through 26 outs before getting a jolt, but Griffin Conine delivered the loudest swing of the day with his fifth homer of the season.
The loss also came with more concern on the pitching side. Michael Petersen, who has been one of Miami’s most encouraging late-inning arms, left his outing with right hamstring tightness. McCullough called the move “precautionary” and said Petersen will be tested to determine the severity.
Petersen now joins a growing list of Marlins relievers who have recently gone down, including John King, Anthony Bender, Josh Ekness and William Kempner, who was added Sunday morning with a right elbow sprain.
McCullough’s message heading into the break was straightforward.
“Go home and enjoy your families,” McCullough relayed. “Everyone across the league has earned these few days to take a bit of a blow.
We'll know when we come back from this that we have a sprint ahead of us. We certainly didn't finish and round out this half like like we had hoped to getting swept here, but I think we just got outplayed.
We'll just have to go enjoy our time away a little bit, rest up, and get ready to start it back up in Milwaukee.”
The All-Star festivities begin Monday night in Philadelphia with the T-Mobile Home Run Derby, followed by the Midsummer Classic on Tuesday. Both events are set for 8:00 EST. Miami returns to action Friday night against Jacob Misiorowski and the NL Central-leading Brewers at American Family Field.
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