The Miami Marlins rallied in the seventh but fell a run short.
Even with a four-run frame — with Jazz Chisholm Jr. heavily involved in both run-scoring at-bats — the Marlins dropped the first of a three-game series to the Arizona Diamondbacks 5-4 on Monday at loanDepot park.
Miami falls to 12-10 on the season, while Arizona is now 11-13.
After being held scoreless for six innings, the Marlins had the bases loaded with two outs in the seventh after three Miami batters were hit by pitches — Avisail Garcia and Garrett Cooper by Zac Gallen, Jacob Stallings by reliever Noe Ramirez.
Chisholm, who was hitless through his first three at-bats of the game, then hit a double to the wall in right-center field that scored Garcia and Cooper.
Jesus Aguilar then drove in both Stallings and Chisholm with an infield single to shortstop Nick Ahmed to cut Miami’s deficit to one run. Chisholm made the run from second to home in 6.88 seconds.
But Miami came no closer, going scoreless in the eighth and ninth innings to drop their second consecutive game. The Marlins had the game-tying and game-winning run on the basepaths in the ninth after Miguel Rojas’ one-out single to right and Chisholm’s two-out walk but Jon Berti popped out to end the game.
Rough start for Pablo Lopez
April was fantastic for Pablo Lopez.
His first start of May was a different story.
On the day Lopez was named the National League’s Pitcher of the Month for April, the 26-year-old righty on Monday had his first clunker of the season. He gave up four runs on six hits and two walks while striking out seven batters in 4 2/3 innings — the first time this season he didn’t get through at least five frames.
The trouble began two pitches into his outing when Lopez gave up a leadoff double to Daulton Varsho. Two batters later, David Peralta swatted a first-pitch, middle-middle fastball a projected 411 feet to right-center field for a two-run home run.
Lopez held the Diamondbacks in check from that point until the fifth inning. After getting two quick outs to start the frame, Lopez walked Varsho after a nine-pitch plate appearance and allowed him to get to third base on a failed pickoff attempt. Back-to-back bloop singles by Jordan Luplow and Peralta — with a Luplow stolen base in between the hits — drove in two more runs and ended Lopez’s night.
The four-run outing rose Lopez’s ERA from a league-leading 0.39 after four starts to 1.61 after his fifth.
Prior to this start, though, Lopez had been one of the league’s top pitchers to begin the season.
Just how good was his April?
— He entered Monday ranked in the top five in opponents’ batting average (T-5th, .160) and walks and hits per inning pitched (4th, 0.73).
— He became the 12th pitcher in MLB history to allow one run or less in his first four starts of the season while pitching at least 20 innings.
— He was the first starting pitcher to have an ERA of 0.39 or less in at least four starts in April since the Texas Rangers’ Nick Martinez in April 2015.
“Just consistency,” manager Don Mattingly said pregame. “He’s been locating, getting ahead in counts, putting himself in good spots and being able to pretty much do what he wants with the baseball. There’s hardly anything to say that hasn’t gone well for Pablo so far. It’s been a really great start.”
Monday was a different story.
Two fewer relievers
The Marlins on Monday optioned right-handed relief pitcher Zach Pop and designated for assignment right-handed relief pitcher Shawn Armstrong to get their active roster down to 26 players.
The moves trim Miami’s bullpen from 10 relief pitchers down to eight — a move that was going to be required by May 30 regardless when the league caps teams at 13 pitchers on their active roster.
Even with the cuts, the Marlins are still carrying the main relievers they have used all season. Anthony Bender has been their primary closer, while Cole Sulser, Tanner Scott and Louis Head have all recorded one save apiece. Anthony Bass, Richard Bleier and Steven Okert have all been used in high-leverage situations as well. Cody Poteet rounds out the group and provides Mattingly a long-relief option.
The one difference that will happen now?
“You don’t have the guys down there that kind of protect the rest of the [high-leverage] guys,” Mattingly said. “I think the starters have been key in this because they’ve set us up to be able to use guys where we should be using them. The trouble comes if you have a couple of bad starts in a row and then you’re pitching guys in spots just to get through a game. So far, it’s been good. We’ll just try keep trying to spread it out.”
Injury updates
— Dylan Floro (right rotator cuff tendinitis) is expected to make at least one more rehab appearance before joining the Marlins’ active roster. He has played in four minor-league games so far, including pitching in back-to-back games for Triple A Jacksonville on Saturday and Sunday.
— Sixto Sanchez (shoulder) is now throwing from 60 feet.
