Wins and losses are insignificant for the Miami Marlins who are playing out their schedule, but they picked up a victory on Wednesday over the Atlanta Braves. The final score was 4-2 and Jose Reyes extended his hitting streak to 19 games, the current longest such streak in Major League Baseball. Robbed of a double early on in the game by a blown call, Reyes would go on to pick up two hits anyway.
Wade LeBlanc made his first start since replacing Carlos Zambrano and was able to last four and a third innings before being lifted due to his pitch count. LeBlanc who was starting in AAA had not started a game in over a month. The lefty allowed one run on five hits while striking out three and walking one. Zambrano was the first reliever out of the pen on what would’ve been his scheduled day to start. With LeBlanc ineligible for the win, Zambrano was credited by the official scorer with the victory after allowing a run in one and two third innings. It was the veteran’s sixth win of the year and first since July 16th. Heath Bell and Mike Dunn combined for two scoreless innings before Steve Cishek entered in the ninth. The Marlins’ new closer earned his fifth save with a relatively quiet ninth inning after a lead off walk.
The Marlins’ offense did something they haven’t done much this season by collecting four hits with runners in scoring position. Wade LeBlanc and John Buck each doubled while three players were credited with runs batted in. LeBlanc’s hit brought home a run but it came after an error by Martin Prado. Carlos Lee (42), Greg Dobbs (23), and Bryan Petersen (3) each had a run batted in during the game.
Miami will look to split the series on Thursday with a scheduled pitching matchup of Mike Minor and Nate Eovaldi.
About Larry Walansky
