*Photo from the Miami Herald*
The fish will be playing October baseball again. Jazz Chisholm Jr homered, Josh Bell drove in 3 runs, and the Miami Marlins defeated the Pittsburgh Pirates with a 7-3 victory on Saturday night in Pittsburgh.
With the win, the Marlins officially punched their ticket to the postseason. It's the 4th playoff berth in franchise history and the first since 2020. The first two times the Marlins made the playoffs, in 1997 and 2003, they won the World Series. In 2020, they fell to the Atlanta Braves in the NLDS.
Marlins GM Kim Ng said that "These guys deserve all the fun that they are having right now. But there's more work to do, and I think they know that. This team has exemplified heart and resilience and grittiness, from the comeback wins, to the one-run wins, to the two runs that we needed in the ninth in New York, to the four runs that we needed in the eighth yesterday. They finally gave us a little margin today, because I think they smelt it. But this team has just exemplified heart, and they know it, and I think that is the driver of this group."
Chisholm Jr got the scoring started in the first inning, hitting an RBI single to give the Marlins a 1-0 lead as Jorge Soler scored. Endy Rodriguez tied the game for the Pirates in the second when he scored on an error. In the 3rd, Chisholm Jr hit a solo home run to give the Marlins a 2-1 lead. Rodriguez made it 2-2 in the 5th when Ke'Bryan Hayes scored on his single to center field.
Jon Berti scored on a fielder's choice in the 6th inning to give the Marlins a 3-2 lead. Garrett Hampson made it 4-2 when he scored on a sac fly from Bell. In the 8th inning, Bell laced a two run double to left center field, making it 6-2 Marlins. An RBI single by Bryan Reynolds made it 6-3 before an RBI single by Bryan De La Cruz in the 9th made it 7-3 Marlins.
Chisholm Jr said of the team that "I feel like we’re just the biggest family in the league. I feel like nobody is as connected as us as a team. I feel like when someone gets going, everybody gets going. That’s the plan here and we’re just family and we’re coming in together. Before the game we called it ‘Clinch Day’ and we weren’t expecting any other day to be Clinch Day except today. And that’s what we did and we handled it today."
The Marlins went with a bullpen game, as JT Chargois and Steven Okert pitched in the first. George Soriano and AJ Puk threw two innings each, David Robertson and Matt Moore threw an inning each, Andrew Nardi threw 2/3 of an inning, and Tanner Scott got the final 4 outs for his 12th save.
Quinn Priester started for the Pirates, allowing 4 runs on 10 hits and a walk in 5 1/3 innings. Dauri Moreta finished the 6th before Jose Hernandez allowed two runs in two innings. Cody Bolton pitched the 9th and allowed one run.
After the game, Priester said that "The thing that's fueling me going into this offseason is winning. We've gone through some amazing spurts here where we're winning a lot of games and playing really well as a team. That's really what's motivating me. Seeing Miami celebrate on the field, that's really, really motivating to me."
The regular season wraps up on Sunday afternoon. Braxton Garrett starts for the Marlins in their final tune up before the playoffs, while the Pirates play their last game before the 2024 season with Andre Jackson starting.
Comments
Post a Comment