SAN DIEGO (AP) - The Miami Marlins needed a big inning, and they got it against struggling San Diego Padres rookie left-hander Nick Margevicius.
Harold Ramirez’s two-run double highlighted Miami’s five-run fourth inning, Bryan Holaday hit a two-run homer and Jose Urena won his third straight start as the Marlins beat the Padres 9-3 Saturday night.
The Marlins sent 11 batters to the plate in the fourth, with Garrett Cooper hitting two singles, driving in one run and scoring one run. The first six Marlins batters reached to knock out rookie lefty Nick Margevicius and give the Marlins a 4-2 lead. Ramirez’s two-run double was followed by RBI singles by Martin Prado and Miguel Rojas. Luis Perdomo came on and got two outs before first baseman Eric Hosmer’s error loaded the bases. Cooper followed with an RBI single.
“Today was overall everybody contributing,” Prado said. “Good performance by Urena. Guys put in great at-bats, getting their starter early. Overall, it’s a pretty good win.
“In our case, our hitting was not clicking from opening day, but I said it, there’s going to be a point into the season where we’re all going to click,” he added. “Pitching, bullpen and hitting. I think all the guys are coming into the field with a good attitude and we’re all having fun now, just hoping we can carry this as long as we can carry this. It’s an overall good win as a team and we’re just hoping that we can carry this until tomorrow.”
Holaday hit a line-shot homer off Adam Warren in the sixth for his first of the season. Ramirez added an RBI grounder in the ninth.
Urena (4-6) held San Diego to three runs and three hits in six innings, struck out six and walked three.
“I thought he was good tonight. Early on, looked like he was going to be really good,” manager Don Mattingly said.
He allowed rookie Josh Naylor’s first career homer, a two-run shot to right in the second, and Hosmer’s RBI single in the sixth.
Naylor motioned to his teammates as he rounded first and, after returning to the dugout, flung his helmet into the wall in celebration.
Naylor was selected by the Marlins in the first round of the 2015 draft before being traded to San Diego the following year.
“Finally,” said Naylor, who was called up last week. “It’s nice to get the first one out of the way, hits or homers,” Naylor said. “It was just good. I was looking for a pitch up. He threw me an off-speed (pitch). It was right there and I hit it and it was like, ’Oh, crap, that has a chance.’”
Margevicius (2-6) allowed five runs - four earned - and six hits in three-plus innings, struck out one and walked one. He’s lost four straight decisions over five starts. The Padres recalled him earlier in the day from Double-A Amarillo and optioned right-handed reliever Phil Maton to Triple-A El Paso.
“They weren’t crushing him for the most part, but for him today his secondary command was elusive,” manager Andy Green said. “He had a hard time putting that wherever he wanted it, a hard time throwing strikes with it and eventually they caught on to it.”
TRAINER’S ROOM
Padres: Reinstated C Francisco Mejia from the 10-day IL and optioned him to Triple-A El Paso.
UP NEXT
Marlins: RHP Trevor Richards (2-5, 3.82) is scheduled to start the series finale Sunday, making his first career start against San Diego.
Padres: LHP Matt Strahm (2-4, 3.21) is coming off a 10-strikeout performance in a 5-2 loss at the New York Yankees on Monday.
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