Marlins Blow Lead, Then Recover To Beat Tigers 5-4 In 11
DETROIT (CBSMiami/AP) — After an absolutely dreadful start to the season, the Miami Marlins are starting to show signs of life.
Chad Wallach hit a tiebreaking double in the 11th inning, and the Marlins beat Detroit 5-4 on Tuesday night after the Tigers tied it in a wild bottom of the ninth.
Detroit forced extra innings by scoring two unearned runs off Miami closer Sergio Romo. The bottom of the ninth included an error, two replay reversals and the ejection of Tigers manager Ron Gardenhire.
That was the only success Detroit had against the Miami bullpen, though. Nick Anderson (1-1) struck out the side in the 10th, then closed the Tigers out in the 11th for his first career win.
Wallach put the Marlins ahead in the 11th with a two-out drive to left-center field off Joe Jimenez (2-2). The Tigers have dropped seven in a row, although their game Sunday against Oakland was suspended in the seventh inning.
Detroit was down 4-2 and hadn't managed a baserunner since the fourth inning when Niko Goodrum hit an infield single to start the bottom of the ninth. He was initially called out, but replays showed Romo may not have touched first while trying to cover the bag. Goodrum was ruled safe after a review, and when Nicholas Castellanos hit a one-out grounder to third, Goodrum was safe again when second baseman Starlin Castro dropped the throw to second for an error.
Miguel Cabrera hit an RBI single off diving third baseman Brian Anderson and into left, leaving men on first and third. Then Ronny Rodriguez lifted a fly ball to deep left field. Harold Ramirez appeared to drop it, and a run came home, tying the game at 4 — but replays showed Ramirez had the ball briefly in his glove before losing control as he tried to transfer it to his throwing hand.
The call was overturned and the batter was ruled out — although the run still counted. Gardenhire came out to argue with third base umpire Fieldin Culbreth, and although Culbreth didn't make a demonstrative ejection motion, Gardenhire disappeared from view in the dugout, and the Tigers eventually confirmed he'd been tossed.
Ramirez hit his first career home run in the fourth inning, and Anderson also homered for Miami. Marlins starter Caleb Smith allowed two runs and three hits in five innings, striking out seven.
The Marlins were 10-31 before sweeping three games from the New York Mets. They then won Tuesday's series opener against Detroit without trailing.
Miami shut out the Mets in the last two games of that series, and the Marlins took a quick 2-0 lead over Detroit. Anderson hit a sacrifice fly in the first inning, and Wallach added an RBI double in the second.
JaCoby Jones hit a solo homer for the Tigers in the third, but Ramirez — playing his sixth major league game — answered with his solo home run an inning later.
Cabrera made it 3-2 with an RBI single in the bottom of the fourth, but Anderson's solo shot in the seventh restored the two-run advantage for Miami.
TRAINER'S ROOM
Marlins: Before the game, Miami recalled OF Austin Dean from Triple-A New Orleans and put INF/OF Jon Bertl on the 10-day injured list, retroactive to Sunday, with a left oblique strain.
UP NEXT
Marlins: José Ureña (1-6) takes the mound for Miami on Wednesday night in the middle game of the series. He had a 9.22 ERA in his first three starts, but has since lowered it to 4.44.
Tigers: Daniel Norris (2-2) starts for Detroit.
(© Copyright 2019 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)