Marlins avoid season sweep by Dodgers

The Miami Marlins had been dominated by the Los Angeles Dodgers for each of the five games they played each other this season.

The Dodgers were about to secure their first ever season series sweep over Miami but the Marlins, powered by Celeb Smith and a barrage of bats, exacted revenge on Thursday by way of a 13-7 win.

Unlike the Dodgers in the previous two game, the Marlins scored all 13 runs without a home run.

“Obviously it took a lot of hits to get those runs, but that’s who we are right now,” manager Don Mattingly said.

From pregame: Don Mattingly from pregame on Caleb Smith and facing the Dodgers. pic.twitter.com/yeCkRl4dKi

— Tony Capobianco (@TonyCapobianco) August 16, 2019

Smith was flirting with a no-hitter through four innings until Kevin Garlick hit a solo home run in the fifth inning. It was the only hit and run he gave up all outing, finishing with four strikeouts and three walks through five innings. He was in line for the win after Jon Berti scored two runs on a single by Brian Anderson in the first inning and a sacrifice fly by Starlin Castro in the third inning.

The Marlins then unloaded on the Dodgers with six runs in the bottom of the fifth inning. Berti was hit by pitch for the second time in the game and scored along with Isan Diaz on a Anderson two-run double. He then scored on an RBI single by Castro. Jorge Alfaro and Lewis Brinson — who made a diving catch in the fourth inning to preserve Smith’s no-hit attempt at the time — drove in the final two runs of the rally.

“It feels good, man,” Brinson said. “That’s a good team over there. Their record and all their numbers show it. We just said we’ve got to fight every at-bat against these guys, because they’re a good squad. That’s exactly what we did.”

The Dodgers got the remainder of their seven runs through the long ball. Cody Bellinger hit his MLB leading 40th home run while Corey Seager homered for the third consecutive game. Max Muncy also hit his 29th home run of the season.

“It’s pretty cool,” Bellinger said on the milestone. “There’s still a lot of baseball left to be played, so I’m going to keep doing what I’m doing, and hopefully more to come.”

From Pregame: Don Mattingly on Jorge Alfaro pic.twitter.com/OPP2UIqBb3

— Tony Capobianco (@TonyCapobianco) August 16, 2019

Once again, Alfaro, Brinson and Anderson drove in the Marlins remaining five runs in the sixth inning. The bullpen held the lead the rest of the way. Alfaro was 2-for-14 in his last four games but went 3-for-4 with 3 RBIs on the afternoon.

“It wasn’t a good day of pitching for us,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said.