The Angels started a weekend series against the rarely-seen Miami Marlins. Reid Detmers faced off against former Oakland pitcher Jesus Luzardo.
Nobody scored in the first inning, but three straight Marlins singles in the second inning gave Miami an early one-run lead, driven in by former Angel/Greinke trade bait Jean Segura. The Angels attempted to answer back by loading the bases with 2 outs, but rookie sensation Neto not so amazingly struck out, leaving 3 LOBsters.
In the third, Miami’s Jorge Soler immediately launched a LONG ball to centerfield for his 16th homer of the season. 2-0 Marlins.
The pitchers didn’t allow any runs from this point until the bottom of the third when the Angels finally got on the board thanks to a hot grounder past 2B Arraez by Wallach, followed by a wild pitch and an RBI single from Mr. Trout. 2-1 Marlins.
Not content with being down one-run, Detmers’ wheels fell off in the 6th inning with another cluster of singles, 4 in a row to be exact, including a cheap Segura roller that wouldn’t go foul, hitting third base. Nick Fortes’ single to left made the score 3-1 Marlins. Bases still loaded with no outs, Detmers gave way to Jacob Webb, who immediately got one out on a grounder to Neto who threw home for the first out forceout, and followed up with a strikeout and a grounder to end the inning with no more runs allowed. Solid work by Webb. That’ll play.
Luzardo’s night was also over after 5 innings. Bryan Hoeing took over and nearly gave up a Renfroe double if not for a diving stop by Segura. That turned out to be pretty big when Drury oppo homered next. Instead of being tied, the score was now 3-2.
Urshela did his best to continue the rally by getting a hit and stealing second base, but another pitching change to Andrew Nardi stopped the rally.
Webb’s previous inning performance didn’t carry over to the seventh. A single, followed by a De La Cruz homer gave the Marlins a larger lead once again. 5-2 Miami.
In the 8th inning, top prospect Sam Bachman made his major league debut, striking out his first batter Nick Fortes. He’ll remember that forever, and hopefully it’s the first of many to come, as well as the beginning of a successful bullpen overhaul. However, on this occasion, a couple singles and a walk resulted in another insurance run. Then the Angels got a big fat zero in the bottom of the 8th. 6-2 Marlins going into the final frame.
Bachman was back out for the 9th and gave up a leadoff hit, but it was erased by a double play. A couple more singles followed, but a strikeout ended the top of the inning with no runs allowed.
But the Angels went down 1-2-3 in the bottom of the inning. Game over. Solid 3-4 performance by Urshela and a decent debut from Bachman, but the Marlins win 6-2.
