The Miami Marlins fell to 4-11 in June after losing their fourth consecutive series on Sunday to the Tampa Bay Rays. The final score of the game was 3-0 with the Marlins only managing two hits total. Miami fell back to the .500 mark and remained six games back of the division lead as the Washington Nationals also lost.
Josh Johnson made this start with the Marlins needing him to go deep and protect a tired bullpen. Johnson wound up lasting six innings in which he allowed two runs on eight hits. That may look great on paper but the Marlins’ ace struggled in nearly every inning with his command. Throwing fastballs to the outside of the strike zone particularity gave Johnson trouble and let to numerous full counts. Of the 108 pitches thrown by the right-hander, only 55 were strikes. Still, without his best stuff, Johnson kept the Marlins in the game. Randy Choate and Chris Hatcher each worked scoreless innings after Johnson exited. For Hatcher, it was his first appearance of 2012 after not seeing game action during his first call-up earlier in the year.
The two hits for Miami were singles, one each from Gaby Sanchez and Greg Dobbs. No Marlin got past first base in the game in a thoroughly dominant performance by Rays’ starter Alex Cobb. Scott Cousins who was the hero a day earlier was 0-3 with three strikeouts. Giancarlo Stanton also struck out three times and wound up going 0-13 in the series.
The Marlins are off on Monday before opening a series at Fenway Park on Tuesday. The scheduled starters are Mark Buehrle for Miami and Clay Buchholz for the Boston Red Sox.
About Larry Walansky
