Marlins Get The Hits, But Not The Runs, Lose, 2-1
DENVER (AP) — The Miami Marlins had 10 hits, though they were all singles and rarely at the right time.
"Hits don't matter," Marlins right fielder Giancarlo Stanton said. "You've got to have them when it counts. You can have 30 hits. You do it with runners on. You do it when it matters."
The Marlins didn't on Wednesday night, falling 2-1 to the Colorado Rockies.
The Marlins loaded the bases with no outs in the seventh and came away empty. Jorge De La Rosa (10-5) left after holding the Marlins scoreless for six innings. Edgmer Escalona relieved De La Rosa and loaded the bases on singles by Donovan Solano and Jeff Mathis, and hit pinch-hitter Greg Dobbs with his first pitch.
"We're just looking for contact," Marlins manager Mike Redmond said. "They're giving us a run. Anything but a strikeout, really, and we got two strikeouts."
Escalona got ahead of Adeiny Hechavarria 0-2, ran the count full but struck him out looking. Left-hander Josh Outman came on to face Christian Yelich, a left-handed hitter playing his second game in the big leagues, and struck him out.
Manager Walt Weiss brought on Wilton Lopez to face Stanton, who homered Tuesday off Outman, and Lopez got Stanton to ground into a fielder's choice. In a mere matter of three batters, a potentially robust rally dissolved into nothing.
"That's the whole game right there," Stanton said. "You execute there and we go into extras or we win that game. None of us did it."
Matt Belisle gave up a run in the eighth but struck out pinch-hitter Justin Ruggiano with runners on first and second to end the inning. Ruggiano is in a 0-for-31 slump.
Todd Helton doubled with two outs in the second and scored on Nolan Arenado's single off Jacob Turner (3-3), who allowed two runs and six hits, struck out four and walked two in six innings. It was the third straight start he allowed just two runs.
DJ LeMahieu gave the Rockies a 2-0 lead in the fifth with a sacrifice fly to center to score Yorvit Torrealba.
The Marlins left 12 runners on base after winning the first two games of this four-game series by scores of 3-1 and 4-2.
"I would've never anticipated these close of games here," Redmond said. "But it's been exciting. We pitched well in all three of them and had a chance to win all three. We'll go out there tomorrow and try to win a series."
Copyright 2013 The Associated Press
