The Miami Marlins’ slide kept rolling Monday night, and the latest loss came with a little extra sting. They fell 8-5 to a Houston Astros club that has been struggling itself, stretching Miami’s season-high losing streak to seven games.
That skid has knocked the Marlins off the comfortable perch they once held. They were 10 games over .500 not long ago, sitting firmly in the third National League Wild Card spot and even hanging around the NL East race. Now they’re back in a fight just to hold sole possession of that third Wild Card position.
Manager Clayton McCullough isn’t buying the idea that playoff pressure is driving the slump. Before the game, he pushed back on that line of thinking, saying, "that's something you guys bring up a lot" and calling it "a hot topic."
"I thought for the most part we pitched very well in Milwaukee, and they just outplayed us for for three days," McCullough said pregame. "I'm sure that the headlines will continue to be that, and I look at it like this stretch of games and losing over the course of an entire season unfortunately happens on multiple occasions. Right now we're going through it, and I think myself and our coaches are just much more concerned with getting our guys back to playing a better brand of baseball."
Miami did get a couple of swings that briefly gave the offense some life. Joe Mack launched his eighth homer of the season in the second inning, and Liam Hicks followed with his team-leading 14th home run in the fourth, both coming off Astros starter Ronel Blanco. Heriberto Hernandez added an RBI single in the ninth, but by then the comeback window had already slammed shut.
The bigger damage came early, and it came fast. Janson Junk was tagged for six runs in four innings, with three walks mixed in. Every one of those runs scored in a 42-pitch second inning that flipped the game.
With the bases loaded and one out, Jeremy Peña stepped in and hit his second career grand slam, pushing Houston ahead 5-2. Yordan Alvarez then added his 32nd home run of the season, and just like that the Astros had a 6-2 cushion after two innings.
"I think the second inning, that's the story of it," Junk said postgame. "I don't really care that I came out after, went a few more innings and put up zeros.
That's what I'm trying to do. Putting the team in a 6-2 deficit after we go up to with a big home run, to have (the Astros) come back with a six-spot, that's pretty demoralizing."
Junk said his season has been "up and down," and the command issues that have followed him this year showed up again. He entered 2025 having allowed 1.06 walk per nine, the lowest in baseball among pitchers with at least 110.0 innings.
That number is still low this season at 2.61, but it has climbed, and Monday’s second inning was especially costly after he walked leadoff man LaMonte Wade Jr. He issued three walks in that frame alone.
"I think it could be just getting back into the groove, coming off the IL, you know," Junk said. "I think that's something I got like check mechanically, maybe just getting outside of myself a little bit and I think it's those leadoff walks.
That happened a few times against the Mariners in my last outing, but I was able to come back from it. Tonight shows you that leadoff walks kill you, and I'll get better at that."
Miami’s lineup never found much rhythm against Blanco or the Houston bullpen. The Marlins struck out 14 times, tied for second-most this season, and every hitter from one through six in the order struck out twice.
Blanco, making his first appearance in 429 days, struck out eight over 4 2/3 innings, and the Astros bullpen added the other six strikeouts. Miami also went just 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position.
McCullough pointed to those missed chances after the game.
"Three innings or so there, I think we we did a good job," McCullough said. "We talked about just trying to create some traffic and we just weren't able to come through with some hits with runners in scoring position.
We'll continue to give ourselves those shots. That'll turn, I know that will.
The strikeouts, it's something that's a little atypical of our group for the most part, but we've been piling them up here recently, so got to try to put the ball forward with a little more regularity."
The defeat dropped Miami to 52-49, though they remained tied for the third National League Wild Card spot after the St. Louis Cardinals lost to the Los Angeles Angels later in the night. The Marlins will try to stop the skid Tuesday at 8:10 pm EST, with Tyler Phillips set to start.
In Other News...
Former Braves Outfielder Suddenly Gets Another Shot With Rival Phillies
A familiar name is getting another look in the National League East. The Phillies turned to Bryan De La Cruz on Sunday, recalling the outfielder from Triple-A as they shuffled the roster around a catching opening and added another bat with big-league experience to the mix. For Miami fans, it is another reminder of how often De La Cruz has resurfaced in different places since his time with the Marlins, with brief stops in Atlanta and Pittsburgh also part of the path.
What makes the move interesting is the timing. De La Cruz has been swinging the bat well in Triple-A this season, and Philadelphia clearly saw enough to give him a chance to help right away. Whether he sticks in a crowded Phillies picture is the next question, but for now he is back on a contender's radar and back in a division where his name is already familiar. [Read more 🡒]
Marlins Prospect Kemp Alderman Is Forcing A Tough Decision
Kemp Alderman has spent enough time at Triple-A Jacksonville to make the next step feel less like a question of if than when. The 23-year-old outfielder, Miamis eighth-ranked prospect, has hit .296 with 13 home runs and has put himself in position for a late-season look, the kind of call-up that usually comes once rosters expand and teams start sorting out who can help right away.
What makes Alderman interesting is the fit as much as the production. He was once a two-way player at Ole Miss and had been viewed as a pitcher before settling in as a full-time outfielder, where his arm strength gives him a path to a corner spot even if center field is not the answer. For the Marlins, the decision now is whether he arrives as part of the everyday mix or as a bat they can deploy in shorter bursts when they want a little more power in the lineup. [Read more 🡒]
Yordan Alvarez May Have Just Changed The Astros MVP Debate
The Marlins ran into Yordan Alvarez at exactly the wrong time, and Houston needed every bit of the damage he did. Alvarez went 3-for-4 and launched two home runs in the Astros 8-5 win, a performance that helped snap a four-game losing streak and reminded everyone why his name keeps surfacing in the American League MVP conversation.
Those blasts pushed him to 32 and 33 homers on the year, putting him in a tie for the major league lead and giving him a grip on several AL offensive categories. ESPN now lists Alvarez as the favorite for the award, and with the way he has carried Houstons lineup, the debate may have shifted from whether he belongs in the race to how much separation he can create before the season winds down. [Read more 🡒]