The Miami Marlins dropped Thursday’s game to the Atlanta Braves 6-1 to lose their four game series. All was not lost however as Jose Reyes extended his hitting streak to 20 games which ties a personal career high for the shortstop. The streak which is the current longest such streak in Major League Baseball is now only 15 games shy of Luis Castillo’s franchise record.
Nathan Eovaldi struggled mightily in his second start as a Marlin lasting only two innings while allowing six runs on eight hits. The young right-hander had difficulty throwing his curve for a strike which was his best pitch five days earlier. Without his off-speed equalizer, the Braves sat on Eovaldi’s fastball and hit multiple line drives in the rout. Chad Gaudin bailed out the bullpen by throwing four innings of one hit ball. For Gaudin, it was an odd appearance as he entered before a 48 minute rain delay and then remained in the game afterwards. Dan Jennings worked the final two innings in scoreless fashion and limped off the field after a play at first. On Jennings’ personal twitter account he started he is ok but that he is also headed to AAA. Miami has yet to announce the move or his replacement.
Reyes’ streak extending hit came in his third at-bat and was his eighth triple of the season In his previous time at the plate, Reyes attempted to lay down a bunt for a hit but was thrown out at first. The lone run came courtesy of Carlos Lee bringing home Reyes after the triple in the sixth inning. John Buck doubled while Gorkys Hernandez went 0-4 in his first start with the Marlins.
On Friday, Miami will head to Washington for a doubleheader. The scheduled starters for game one are Brad Hand and John Lannan. In game two, Josh Johnson is set to take on Gio Gonzalez. Hand will be added to the roster as a 26th man thanks to a new rule which allows teams an extra player for scheduled doubleheaders.
About Larry Walansky
