Dietrich Homers For 3rd Straight Game, Marlins Top Rockies 8-5
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DENVER (CBSMiami/AP) — The Miami Marlins have won more games in June than any other month this season, and they still have five games left on the calendar.
One of the reasons has been a recent surge by Derek Dietrich, who was hoping for a chance at history but settled for a win in a torrid month for the Miami outfielder.
He homered for the third straight game, leading Miami over the Colorado Rockies 8-5 on Sunday.
Dietrich doubled, homered and singled in his first three at-bats but managed just a single in his last two trips to the plate before leaving in the seventh inning. He tied a career high with four hits. He would have been the first Marlins player ever to hit for the cycle.
"(John) Silverman, our longtime clubhouse manager, said, 'No one's ever hit for the cycle so if you would have hit it they would have brought you back for the all-anniversary,'" Dietrich said. "That would have been cool. There's always tomorrow."
Drew Rucinski got the win in relief of starter Caleb Smith, who exited in the second inning with left shoulder tightness.
Smith said he felt tightness on his second pitch to Tom Murphy to start the inning. He struck out Murphy on four pitches but after one pitch to Gerardo Parra, manager Don Mattingly and trainers immediately went to the mound. After a brief conversation, Smith left and Rucinski came on.
Mattingly said after the game Smith will go on the disabled list and will have an MRI done Monday.
"It's super disappointing," Smith said. "The DL is the last place I want to be. I want to go out there every fifth day and help my team out."
Rucinski (2-1) allowed three runs in 2 2-3 innings but got the win, and Kyle Barraclough earned his seventh save.
The start of the game was delayed 1 hour, 31 minutes by a strong storm that dropped heavy rain and hail on Coors Field.
German Marquez (5-8) didn't last long, either. He was tagged for six runs - five earned - in 3 1-3 innings. Miami's first five batters reached against him during a three-run first inning.
Nolan Arenado hit a two-run homer in the bottom half, his 18th, to make it 3-2. Arenado finished the 4-3 homestand with five home runs in the final six games. Colorado is 15-22 at Coors Field.
"Winning a homestand or not, we've got win series," Arenado said. "Homestand doesn't mean nothing until we win the series. It has been frustrating lately."
Parra also homered for Colorado.
Dietrich, who hit .438 on the nine-game road trip and is hitting .410 in June, led off the second with a home run, his 11th. He added an RBI single in a two-run seventh to give the Marlins a three-run cushion but was replaced in the outfield for the bottom of the inning.
"Trying to win a game. At the end of the day our best defense is on the field," Mattingly said. "You hate taking guys out. If it's a one-run game probably couldn't do it but I didn't have any sense of Marlin history."
Dietrich, who also had four hits at St. Louis on June 6, has one triple this season.
"This park has the most cycles in baseball," Dietrich said. "I don't think you can force a triple so I was just trying to have a couple of more good at-bats."
TRAINER'S ROOM
Marlins: SS Miguel Rojas was out of the lineup for a second straight day with soreness from a bruise on his left hand. Rojas was hit by a pitch Friday night. Mattingly said Rojas was available to pinch hit.
Rockies: RHP Scott Oberg (back strain) and LHP Mike Dunn (shoulder strain) came out of Saturday's rehab assignments in good shape, manager Bud Black said. "We're going to see how they are today. They'll play catch and see how they feel, start moving around and then these next decisions will follow," he said.
ROSTER MOVE
The Rockies placed shaky reliever Bryan Shaw on the 10-day disabled list with a right calf strain and recalled Yency Almonte from Triple-A Albuquerque. Shaw gave up a grand slam to J.T. Realmuto on Saturday and has struggled in his setup role with Colorado. He is 3-5 with a 7.57 ERA in 41 games after signing a three-year, $27 million in the offseason.
UP NEXT
Marlins: RHP Dan Straily (2-3, 4.89) will start Monday against Arizona while the appeal of his suspension is still pending. Straily was given a five-game suspension by Major League Baseball for intentionally throwing at San Francisco catcher Buster Posey on Tuesday night
Rockies: RHP Chad (5-1, 5.23) opens a three-game series in San Francisco on Tuesday night. He has a 6.00 ERA in two starts against the Giants this season.
(© Copyright 2018 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
