Urena Bails Marlins Out In Crazy 8th Inning
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LOS ANGELES (CBSMiami) - With the bases loaded on walks and their closer for the night -- as well as their manager -- ejected, the Miami Marlins needed a hero.
Enter Jose Urena.
The right-hander bailed Miami out of a crazy bottom of the eighth inning and earned his first big league save, preserving Justin Nicolino's win in a 2-0 decision Wednesday night over the Los Angeles Dodgers.
"A couple of things didn't go our way," Urena said through an interpreter. "It was a big moment and a great night."
Urena's wire-walk out of a mess not of his making gave the Marlins (9-11) their fourth consecutive win, as well as their first series victory in Dodger Stadium since 2010.
Nicolino (1-0) was pulled by manager Don Mattingly after retiring A.J. Ellis on a grounder to start the eighth, his 7 1/3 innings representing the longest outing for a Miami starter this year. Nicolino gave up just two hits and two walks, fanning two.
Bryan Morris relieved and issued a four-pitch walk to pinch hitter Chase Utley. Cody Ege came in for Morris and walked pinch hitter Yasmani Grandal on five pitches.
David Phelps, whom Mattingly penciled into the closer's role for the game after A.J. Ramos notched saves on three straight days, barely missed with 2-2 and 3-2 pitches to pinch hitter Joc Pederson to fill the bases.
Feeling that plate umpire Todd Tichenor had squeezed the plate on him, Phelps argued after ball four and was quickly ejected. Mattingly took up the argument and joined Phelps in the clubhouse.
With Ramos and another right-hander, Kyle Barraclough, apparently unavailable, Urena got the call. He responded by fanning Yasiel Puig with a 91 mph fastball for the second out, then retired Adrian Gonzalez on a flyout to right field.
Following his great escape, Urena breezed through the ninth, finishing it in style by whiffing Howie Kendrick on a breaking ball in the dirt.
"It's a great feeling to come through in a big game," Urena said. "That will help you down the line."
While Urena came up big, the Los Angeles offense again came up small in the series. The Dodgers (12-10) have managed only five runs on 14 hits in three games, and they face Marlins ace Jose Fernandez in Thursday night's series finale.
Los Angeles manager Dave Roberts said his team appeared to be pressing at the plate as Nicolino continued to put up zeros in an efficient fashion, using only 99 pitches to obtain his 22 outs.
"There was some hard contact out there," Roberts said, "but when they're not falling, you start looking at your last three, four games. Some guys start looking at their average and thinking they need to get a hit. And when you feel like you need a hit, they get tougher."
Dodgers starter Scott Kazmir (1-2) gave up both his runs and four of his seven hits in a shaky first that ultimately set the night's score.
Back-to-back singles by Dee Gordon and Martin Prado set the table for the lineup's middle. Gordon advanced to third on a Christian Yelich lineout to Puig in right and trotted home on a broken-bat one-out hit by Giancarlo Stanton. Marcell Ozuna's groundball single to left plated Prado for the other run.
Kazmir threw 113 pitches in six innings, walking one and fanning six while falling to 0-2 in his past four outings.
"Toward the end, I was able to get more comfortable and repeat my delivery," Kazmir said of the first inning. "They were frustrating hits, but they were nevertheless hits."
By The Sports Xchange
