MIA 4, MIL 3; The King of September strikes again in October

Oct 2, 2022 - 3:53 AM

Miami Marlins reacts after being called out on strikes in the ninth inning against the Milwaukee Brewers at American Family Field on September 30, 2022 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/Y7cEoAmZy09YqZk4o6vJB98g7zU=/0x251:4824x2965/1920x1080/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/71441961/1429217579.0.jpg" />

Game three of the four-game set featured the matchup of Edward Cabrera for the Miami Marlins against Aaron Ashby of the Milwaukee Brewers.

Miami was trying to rebound after future NL Cy Young award winner Sandy Alcantara suffered a complete game loss the night before. Prior to the beginning of Saturday’s game, Marlins Manager Don Mattingly announced that Sandy Alcantara made his final start of 2022 and will be shut down for the rest of the season instead of pitching game 162 against the Atlanta Braves.

Alcantara appeared on the Bally Sports Florida broadcast with Paul Severino and J.P. Arencibia to give his perspective on his season and much more.

The Marlins offense was quiet in innings number one and two. In the top of the third, after Jordan Groshans got on base with a single, Peyton Burdick stepped up to the plate and hit home run number 3 on the year to straightaway center field. This was a no-doubter as it went 433 feet into the air and was at 108.0 MPH. This gave Cabrera and the Marlins an early 2-0 lead.

Unfortunately, this game took a quick turn after that. During Cabrera’s warmup pitches in the bottom of the fourth, the Marlins training staff noticed something was wrong. Cabrera told the media postgame that it was related to the ankle injury that he sustained in his last start. After much pleading on Cabrera’s end, Donnie decided to take him out of the game and put Andrew Nardi in his place.

Although Edward was removed from the game, you still have to give him a lot of credit for his outing tonight. He kept the Brewers not only scoreless but hitless as well. He also had the strikeouts working for him, with 5 of them despite facing only 9 total batters. This will mark the end of Edward Cabrera’s 2022 season which was a good one with many ups and downs that were caused by injuries or precautionary issues.

Edward Cabrera final line: 3.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 5 SO, 0 HR, 42 NP, 3.01 ERA

As a new pitcher entered the game for Miami, the Brewers took advantage. Off the second pitch thrown by Nardi, Christian Yelich hit a 366-foot solo homer to put the Brewers within a one-run deficit. Marlins still lead, 2-1.

Midway through the fifth inning, Manager Craig Counsell would take the ball away from Aaron Ashby who ended up pitching a solid game despite the 2-run homer from Burdick. Ashby won the strikeout battle (6) against Edward (5) and did not allow a walk in his 4 ¹⁄₃ innings of work.

Aaron Ashby final line: 4.1 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 6 SO, 1 HR, 65 NP, 4.49 ERA

Milwaukee turned the ball over to Trevor Gott, who retired Groshans and Burdick to end the fifth.

Nardi walked McCutchen and Urías to lead off the fifth. The Brewers put in Victor Caratini to pinch hit for starting catcher Omar Narvaez. The Marlins countered by bringing in Jeff Brigham to replace Nardi. Brigham did load the bases but thanks to a fly ball to center fielder JJ Bleday, he got out of a jam and kept the game at 2-1.

Trevor Gott stuck around to pitch a clean sixth inning for the Brew Crew. He struck out Jon Berti and forced groundouts to Brian Anderson and Charles Leblanc to end the inning.

The Marlins again made a pitching change to enter the bottom of the sixth. Jake Fishman gave up two singles and a strikeout. Huascar Brazoban entered the game trying to clean up the mess.

Brazoban threw a wild pitch to move both runners into scoring position and walked McCutchen to load the bases. Brazoban’s control continued to be an issue as he hit Luis Urías with the bases loaded on a pitch that barely touched Urías’ jersey. That drove a run in for the Brewers to tie the game, 2-2.

With the bases still loaded, Victor Caratini grounded into a fielder's choice that drove Hunter Renfroe in to give the Brewers their first lead of the game, 3-2. This game was now Brazoban’s to lose.

You would assume that entering the ninth inning, it would be over with star closer Devin Williams on the mound, but the Fish played spoiler against the Wild Card contenders, responded to the Brewers’ comeback with a comeback of their own.

Jon Berti walked and Joey Wendle struck out. During Wendle’s at-bat, Berti stole his 39th base of the season, giving him more than a comfortable lead over Tommy Edman for the stolen base leader crown in the National League.

Brian Anderson worked a walk to put men on first and second. With Bryan De La Cruz—also known as the King of September—up at the plate, Devin Williams threw a wild pitch which moved Berti to 3rd and BA to 2nd. A great hitter for the Marlins throughout the second half of the season (slash line of .289/.323/.512/.835) and especially hot in September (.375/.408/.734/1.142), De La Cruz carried his momentum into Miami’s first October game. He smacked an RBI single to drive in both Berti and Anderson to give the Fish the late 4-3 lead.

Miami went to Richard Bleier to convert the save. He finished the job by doing exactly what Bleier is known for: three straight groundouts. It was a rare one-run win for Miami and also Bleier's first save since the 2019 season when he was with Baltimore.

At this point in the season, the Marlins are playing spoiler and they are doing it well. The Brewers lost a half-game in the Wild Card standings to the Philadelphia Phillies, who split their doubleheader against the Washington Nationals.

Manager Don Mattingly Postgame Press Conference

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Pablo López will take the mound for the Marlins one last time in 2022 as he tries to lead the Marlins to a series win on Sunday against a team that is in the thick of a playoff race. Freddy Peralta, who made a relief appearance in the Thursday night series opener, will start for the Brewers.