Marlins Have Big Opener In Padres Series
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SAN DIEGO (CBSMiami) - Miami Marlins left-hander Wei-Yin Chen had trouble keeping the ball in the ballpark Monday night, but it didn't stop him from emerging with a win.
"He gave up four homers, but when they are solo like that, they don't hurt as much," Marlins manager Don Mattingly said after Miami pounded out 19 hits and beat the San Diego Padres 13-4 in the opener of a three-game series.
Other than the four homers, Chen (4-2) held the Padres to no runs on three hits and a walk with seven strikeouts over six innings.
"Overall, my fastball was fine. My breaking ball wasn't as good," Chen said. "And a couple of those home run pitches were in a pretty good location, but they hit them hard. Fortunately, I got a lot of support."
Adeiny Hechavarria drove in four runs with a bases-loaded triple and a double, and Martin Prado had three RBIs off a homer and two singles to lead the attack against Padres starter Colin Rea and four relievers, including catcher Christian Bethancourt.
Prado, Justin Bour and Ichiro Suzuki all had three hits for the Marlins.
Suzuki, who was 3-for-4 with two walks, a RBI and three runs, finished the night one hit shy of tying Pete Rose's all-time professional record of 4,256 hits. Suzuki also drew within 23 hits of 3,000 for his major league career.
The Marlins scored seven runs in the top of the third against Rea (3-3) to turn a 1-1 tie into a rout. Five of the runs scored after Padres second baseman Adam Rosales dropped the throw on the front end of a potential inning-ending double play.
Suzuki opened the third inning with a single and scored on Martin Prado's tiebreaking two-run homer into the left field seats.
Christian Yelich followed with a line-drive single, and after Rea struck out Marcell Ozuna, Bour beat the Padres' shift for a second straight at-bat with an opposite-field single to left to put runners at the corners with one out.
J.T. Realmuto then hit a one-hopper to Padres third baseman Yangervis Solarte, who threw a strike to Rosales at the second base bag. However, Rosales dropped the throw, allowing Yelich to score. Derek Dietrich singled to load the bases.
Hechavarria cleared the bases with a triple, then scored on Suzuki's second single of the inning.
"It seemed like every time I threw one over the plate, they were aggressive," said Rea, who allowed eight runs (six earned) on nine hits and two walks in 2 2/3 innings in the shortest start of his career.
When asked how Rosales' error affected his bottom line, Rea said: "I wasn't making pitches before that, and I didn't make pitches after that. ... They were hitting the ball hard."
Padres manager Andy Green said, "We didn't help him out. That's the second time in two games that we couldn't make a play. I thought Rosales pivoted before he caught the ball. We needed a double play desperately there, and Colin got the grounder.
"But the Marlins hit the ball well all through the night against all our pitchers."
With the possible exception of Bethancourt, who allowed a hit and a walk with a strikeout in a scoreless ninth. He was the only Padres pitcher to give up fewer than two hits.
Seattle took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first when Suzuki drew a game-opening walk from Rea, moved to second on a single by Prado and scored on Bour's two-out, shift-beating single to left.
The Padres tied the game in the bottom of the first when Wil Meyers hit the first of the four homers allowed by Chen, a 371-foot, opposite-field shot to right. It was Myers' 14th homer of the season and seventh in the last 12 games.
Matt Kemp hit his 15th homer in the bottom of the third to make it 8-2. Rosales hit his fourth homer in the bottom of the fifth to make it
12-3 after the Marlins had scored four runs in the top of the inning.
Melvin Upton Jr. hit his eighth homer of the season in the sixth.
Miami's big hits in the fifth were RBI doubles by Hechavarria and Yelich and run-scoring singles by Prado and Bour. Realmuto singled home the final run in the seventh.
By The Sports Xchange
