Whiffs of Success

[PBMarlin]

Whiffs Of Success

 

Marlins pitchers had a team-record 22 strikeouts in Florida's 5-4, 12-inning victory over the Brewers on Wednesday night, retiring 28 straight batters from the third inning on.

 

MIAMI (AP) -- Florida Marlins pitchers were perfect for more than nine innings Wednesday night, and they set a team record with 22 strikeouts.

 

Juan Encarnacion's single in the 12th inning gave Florida a 5-4 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers, but it was the Marlins pitchers who stole the show.

 

Starter A.J. Burnett matched his career-high and the team record with 14 strikeouts in six innings and Florida pitchers retired 28 consecutive hitters from the third inning on.

 

"I don't think I've ever seen anything like this," 74-year-old Marlins manager Jack McKeon said.

 

Pierre led off the 12th with an infield single against Wes Obermueller (1-2) and took second on Luis Castillo's sacrifice. Following an intentional walk to Carlos Delgado and a walk to Miguel Cabrera, Encarnacion lined a single to center.

 

"I feel like I let the team down," said Obermueller, usually a starter or middle reliever. "That was my first time being in that situation."

 

Valerio De Los Santos (1-0) pitched one scoreless inning.

 

Milwaukee failed to put a runner on base -- with only three balls being hit to the outfield -- over the final 9 1/3 innings. J.J. Hardy, who had a two-out, run-scoring single in the third, was the Brewers' final baserunner.

 

"To go 12 innings, and for us not get a hit past the third inning ... it's kind of unbelievable," Brewers manager Ned Yost said.

 

"It shows that they were throwing good pitches to everybody, and we didn't make any adjustments," Milwaukee's Bill Hall said.

 

Burnett struck out every Brewer in the starting lineup at least once.

 

"I knew we had a lot of strikeouts, but I just wanted to win the game," Burnett said. "This was a big win."

 

Atlanta's John Smoltz struck out 15 against the New York Mets on April 10 for the most strikeouts in the major leagues this season.

 

"I told A.J. he gave me the biggest workout of my life," catcher Paul Lo Duca said. "He was all over the place. I guess you could say he was effectively wild."

 

Marlins reliever Guillermo Mota struck out two in the eighth and two in the ninth. Todd Jones struck out one in the 10th and two in the 11th, and De Los Santos struck out one.

 

"If I knew we had a streak of retired hitters, I probably would have given up a hit," Jones said.

 

Florida's team record for a nine-inning game is 17 strikeouts (July 21, 2002 vs. Montreal), and its previous record for an extra-inning game was 21 (Aug. 20, 1999 against Houston in 16 innings).

 

Milwaukee batters struck out a major league record 26 times in a 17-inning game at Anaheim on June 8, 2004.

 

Brewers starter Tomo Ohka allowed two runs and six hits in six innings. He entered the game with a 1-10 career record against Florida, having lost his previous eight decisions against the Marlins.

 

Burnett threw 125 pitches in six innings, allowing four runs and four hits while walking five. Reliever Jim Mecir pitched the seventh but didn't have a strikeout.

 

Lo Duca's sacrifice fly in the eighth scored Encarnacion, who had tripled with one out, to tie it 4-4.

 

Geoff Jenkins' two-run single highlighted Milwaukee's three-run first.

 

Cabrera led off Florida's second with a triple off the right-field wall and scored after center fielder Chris Magruder threw wildly to third. Replays showed Cabrera's shot cleared the wall, hit a railing and bounced back onto the field.

 

Game notes

Milwaukee had won the series' first two games. ... Burnett struck out 14 against Colorado on Aug. 29, 2004. .. The Marlins said Josh Beckett will miss his next scheduled start. The right-hander, who left Tuesday night's 6-4 loss to Milwaukee in the third inning after straining his left oblique muscle, had been scheduled to start Sunday against Chicago. ... Before the game, Florida recalled outfielder Chris Aguila from Triple-A Albuquerque and placed catcher Josh Willingham (left stress arm fracture) on the 15-day disabled list.

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