Marlins coast by Cubs in 6-1 victory |
Miami -- With Miami Marlins ace Jose Fernandez on the bump on Sunday afternoon, the Chicago Cubs struggled at the plate, garnering only five hits on the afternoon. Cubs starting pitcher Jason Hammel was good, giving up a mere four hits in six innings pitched, but Fernandez was better. As a result, the Marlins coasted by the Cubs 6-1 and won their third game of the four-game series.
Following a walk of Miami first baseman Justin Bour in the bottom of the second, Marlins second baseman Derek Dietrich doubled off of Hammel to bring Bour home. Hammel helped make the run moot the following inning by singling to right and scoring soon after on a sacrifice fly by third baseman Kris Bryant. However, Fernandez escaped the top half of the inning without suffering any additional damage, as Cubs first baseman Anthony Rizzo struck out with runners on the corners and two outs. With the game knotted up at one run apiece, Marlins slugger Giancarlo Stanton led off the bottom of the sixth with a double to deep center and later scored on a fielder’s choice groundout to give the Marlins a 2-1 lead. Chicago reliever Travis Wood replaced Hammel to start the bottom of the seventh, and although he gave up a run, a throwing error by Bryant was mostly to blame for it. With a runner on first and one out, Bryant’s errant throw on a potential double play ball enabled the lead runner, pinch hitter Miguel Rojas, to score later on in the inning by way of a single off the bat of left fielder Christian Yelich. While Justin Grimm replaced Wood on the rubber and prevented another Miami run from scoring, the Marlins’ 3-1 advantage proved to be more than enough. A bases-clearing double by Prado in the eighth, his lone hit of the afternoon, secured the victory for the Marlins, providing them with a five-run lead. Winning 6-1, the Marlins moved to 41-35 on the season and dropped the Cubs to 48-26. Fernadez earned the win and is now an impressive 10-3 with a 2.28 ERA this year. As for Hammel, he earned a loss for his efforts and is now 7-4 with a 2.58 ERA. Today’s loss brought an inglorious ending to the worst week of the 2016 campaign for the Cubs, with the North Siders dropping six of seven games. Even though they still maintain a sizable 9.5 game lead in the National League Central, the Cubs need to get back on track and will look to do so with a three-game series at the bottom feeders of the NL Central, the Cincinnati Reds (29-47), that begins tomorrow afternoon.
