The Marlins had plenty of chances Friday night. They had the hits.
They had the traffic on the bases. They just didn’t have the clean finish, and that was the difference in a 4-3 loss to the Angels.
Miami actually outhit Los Angeles 12-6, but it stranded 13 runners and kept running itself out of innings and out of the game. The final mistake came with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, when Javier Sanoja ripped a double down the left field line and third base coach Blake Lalli sent Leo Jiménez home from first. Jose Siri handled the ball in left and the throw beat Jiménez to the plate, ending it.
“Good with the send there,” Marlins manager Clayton McCullough said. “It took a really nice throw from a guy running a long way for it to pick it up there, and tough angle to make that throw home going back across.
I love the aggressiveness by Blake and really have since he's been our third base coach. I think he does a great job of balancing aggressiveness in there.
Two outs and a chance to tie it up, so all good with me.”
It was the second straight time in a week Miami finished a game with a baserunning out. Tuesday against the Braves, the Marlins tried a double steal with two outs in the top of the ninth, and Jakob Marsee was thrown out at third. Earlier in Friday’s game, Esteury Ruiz was running on contact from third with no outs in the bottom of the third and was also thrown out, killing that threat before it could turn into anything.
The numbers back up the ugly trend. According to Baseball-Reference, the Marlins are second in the majors in outs made on the bases with 49 and are now tied for second with 17 outs at home plate.
McCullough didn’t hide from the missed opportunities, but he also didn’t pretend the Marlins were the only team that left something on the table.
“I thought we put some good at-bats together,” McCullough said. “Was that kind of a game where both sides just missed opportunities. It's not about who gets the most hits in a game-it's about scoring more runs and they did that.”
The Angels got the first punch from Mike Trout, who homered off Tyler Phillips in the top of the first for a 1-0 lead. Phillips settled in after that and worked four-plus innings with four strikeouts, but Miami has generally not asked him to go deep since moving him into the rotation. He has completed six innings only twice in 13 starts.
Phillips said he understands the way he’s being handled, even if he wants a little more rope.
“I'd like to fight for it a little bit more, but I am still young in this game and do understand where I stand this year,” Phillips said. “Wasn't built up to be a starter out of spring and didn't prepare in the offseason to be a starter.
If there is any management there, whatever it is, doesn't matter to me. My goal is to go out there and throw the ball until my manager comes out and takes it from me.”
Miami answered in the bottom of the fifth and briefly grabbed the lead. Kyle Stowers lined an RBI single to bring home Jakob Marsee, and Stowers finished with four hits, matching his season high.
Then the seventh inning flipped everything. Josh Ekness walked Josh Lowe to start the frame, Tyler Heineman moved him to second with a sacrifice bunt, and Wade Meckler’s groundout advanced him to third.
With two outs and a runner at third, Mike Trout hit a 56.7 mph grounder back to Ekness, who bobbled it and let the ball get away. Lowe scored on the error, and Nolan Schanuel followed with a two-run homer on the second pitch of the next at-bat to make it 4-2.
Schanuel’s shot was his seventh homer of the season.
The Marlins had the bats to make this one messy for the Angels. They just never turned those chances into enough runs, and one more aggressive send at the plate closed the door for good.
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