MIAMI (AP) - NL RBI leader Jesús Aguilar delivered a tiebreaking single in a six-run eighth after Richard Bleier struck out the side with the bases loaded in the top of the inning, and the Miami Marlins beat the Arizona Diamondbacks 9-3 on Tuesday night.
The score was 3-all when Miguel Rojas led off the eighth with a double against Kevin Ginkel (0-1), and Rojas came home on Aguilar’s single. Corey Dickerson followed with an infield single, and catcher Stephen Vogt’s throwing error allowed Aguilar to score all the way from first.
Lewis Brinson hit a three-run homer off Alex Young to complete the scoring for the Marlins, who totaled four runs while being swept last weekend in a three-game series at Washington.
“We’ve been struggling, but we swung the bats good tonight,” manager Don Mattingly said. “There were a lot of balls we hit right on the nose that were right at people.”
Arizona briefly pulled even in the top of the eighth on Eduardo Escobar’s RBI single, and catcher Sandy León mishandled a bunt for Miami’s third error, loading the bases with none out. Bleier (2-0) came out of the bullpen and struck out Josh Rojas, Wyatt Mathisen and Pavin Smith.
“It’s almost like there’s no pressure, because it’s such a tough situation,” Bleier said. “Not a high conversion rate. I’m going for weak contact there, but strikeouts, I’ll take them, too.
“We kind of carried that into that big next inning and really opened it up.”
Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo acknowledged the momentum from their perspective.
“There was just a natural letdown,” he said. “We had what we expected to be a real big inning. … You anticipate something happening, and it doesn’t.”
Arizona went 1 for 12 with runners in scoring position and stranded 10.
Miami’s Brian Anderson hit a three-run homer in his first at-bat after coming off the injured list. Anderson, sidelined the past two weeks with a strained left oblique, hit his second homer of the season in the first inning off Riley Smith.
“That was big, going out and finding the barrel right out of the gate,” Anderson said. “Seeing one not get caught was good for me.”
Those were the only runs allowed by Riley Smith, who worked five innings in his third career start.
Sandy Alcantara yielded one earned run in six innings for the Marlins and lowered his ERA to 2.95.
Josh Rojas hit his fifth homer in the fifth. The Diamondbacks have homered in 15 straight games, the longest streak in the majors this season.
TAKING BLAME
Vogt, a late-game replacement, said he made “a horrible throw” to third base on the error that triggered Miami’s outburst in the eighth.
“This one’s going to stick with me for a little bit,” he said. “But I’ve got my kids waiting for me back at the hotel. They’re going to scream daddy and give me a big hug. They don’t care if I make errors or not.”
ROSTER MOVES
Diamondbacks: Reinstated RHP Joakim Soria (strained left calf) from the 10-day injured list and placed RHP Merrill Kelly on the injured list. Lovullo declined to give a reason for the move involving Kelly, who is 2-2 with a 5.79 ERA in six starts.
Marlins: Selected the contract of RHP Anthony Bender from Triple-A Jacksonville and optioned OF Monte Harrison to Jacksonville.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Marlins: RHP Elieser Hernandez (biceps) and RHP Edward Cabrera (biceps) threw bullpens. INF Jazz Chisholm (strained left hamstring) is expected to begin light baseball activity this week, but CF Starling Marte (broken rib) has not yet reached that step.
UP NEXT
Arizona RHP Luke Weaver (1-2, 4.91 ERA) will seek his first road win since May 2019 on Wednesday. RHP Pablo López (0-2, 2.34) is expected to start for Miami.
___
More AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/MLB and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
Please read our comment policy before commenting.