Don Mattingly Makes Questionable Call With Large Lead, Marlins Hang On To Beat Dodgers
Don Mattingly Makes Questionable Call With Large Lead, Marlins Hang On To Beat Dodgers
Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

Miami Marlins manager Don Mattingly didn’t go face to face with anyone Saturday, and whether his antics the night prior carried any weight can be debated, but what can’t be argued was the Marlins poured it on early against the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Julio Urias was chased with one out in the third inning. It was a second consecutive start the young left-hander struggled in. There was some bad luck mixed in with Urias’ command issues and together that amounted to seven runs (six earned) allowed on seven hits.

In some sense Urias managed to limit the damage. The Marlins loaded the bases with nobody out, though Giancarlo Stanton grounded into a fielder’s choice. Urias induced a double play to end the inning with just one run allowed.

Derek Dietrich’s one-out triple to right field in the second inning led to another run for the Marlins. Chris Taylor’s leadoff error in the third was compounded when Urias balked Marcell Ozuna to second base.

Stanton hit a run-scoring double, Justin Bour followed with an RBI single, and J.T. Riddle’s double extended the Marlins’ lead to 7-0 and knocked Urias out of the game. While Mattingly took umbrage with Corey Seager swinging away with a 5-0 lead, he called for a squeeze attempt with a seven-run lead, which that was thwarted.

Dan Straily struck out a pair in a 1-2-3 third inning, limiting the Dodgers to just one baserunner, via walk, to that point. Luis Avilan struck out Dee Gordon to start the fourth but failed to retire any of the next three batters faced, capped off by a Stanton RBI double.

Josh Fields replaced Avilan with two outs and surrendered an RBI single to J.T. Realmuto prior to ending the inning. Straily stranded a Seager leadoff walk in the bottom of the fourth.

Riddle led off the fifth with a solo home run, giving the Marlins at least one run scored in each inning. Kiké Hernandez simultaneously broke up Straily’s no-hit bid and shutout, with a two-out solo home run in the bottom of the fifth inning.

Seager’s ground-rule double and Cody Bellinger’s base hit in the sixth were just the Dodgers’ second and third hits of the game. Yasmani Grandal’s RBI double kept the line moving. Straily was removed after walking the bases loaded with two outs.

Brad Ziegler’s first pitch went behind Joc Pederson, allowing a run to score. Seager and Bellinger combined for back-to-back home runs in the seventh inning, trimming the Marlins’ lead to 10-6. But the Dodgers went quiet over the final two innings.

One game after Taylor nearly did so, Riddle also finished a triple shy of hitting for the cycle.