MIAMI – Wednesday night’s series finale against the Houston Astros (70-52) at loanDepot park turned into a nightmare for Miami Marlins (63-59) left-hander Jesús Luzardo, who was responsible for allowing three home runs in the first inning en route to a 12-5 defeat.
The Marlins saw themselves in an early 2-0 hole, before Chas McCormick, who homered Tuesday, destroyed a Luzardo changeup to center field to put the Astros and veteran right-hander Justin Verlander in a comfortable 4-0 spot.
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Miami would not go away, however, shrinking the deficit to as close as 6-5 in the home half of the fifth inning before Houston attacked the Marlins’ bullpen for six in the seventh to crack open the scoreboard.
The team was creating loud contact off the bat for a large portion of Wednesday’s contest, raising Verlander’s pitch count and forcing him to only work five innings.
August and Jesús Luzardo do not mesh well- In three August outings, Luzardo, get this, has coughed up 16 earned runs. With 40 games remaining in the regular season, that is worrisome for a team fighting on a day-to-day basis for a spot in the playoffs.
Jean Segura who- Jake Burger has been a member of the Marlins since the 2nd of August, but it is crystal clear Marlins General Manager Kim Ng made the right choice to replace Segura at third with Burger, who tallied three hits and drove in two runs Wednesday.
Bullpen implodes in seventh- Newly-acquired reliever Jorge López walked three Houstin hitters and was the perpetrator of four out of six runs in a frustrating seventh inning for Skip Schumaker’s club.
Next- The Marlins will have a travel day to Los Angeles Thursday before opening a three-game weekend series against the scalding-hot Los Angeles Dodgers of the National League West. Right-hander Sandy Alcantara, five days after tossing his third complete game of the season, toes the hill.