Five takeaways from Miami Marlins 5-4 loss to Rays

The extra-inning rule giveth and taketh away.

Sunday’s rubber match between the Miami Marlins and the Tampa Bay Devil Rays showed both sides of the extra-inning rule in which each team begins the side with a runner at second base.

The Marlins struck first when outfielder Matt Joyce drove in Lewis Brinson with two outs with an RBI single on an 0-2 pitch. However the Rays struck back in the bottom half with an RBI double by Ji-Man Choi and a sacrifice fly by Brandon Lowe for the 5-4 walk-off victory.

Marlins closer Brandon Kintzler was dealt a bad hand going into the save situation and expressed his frustrations with the new rule in the postgame virtual media session.

“I think it’s completely stupid.” Kintzler said. “Maybe if I threw 100 and struck everybody out, I’d love it. It takes the whole pitching part out of it.”

The rule was meant to quickly resolve games that went into extra-innings. It became even more important to do so this shorten season as a way to preserve pitchers given the likelihood of numerous seven-inning doubleheaders. It has certainly become a way to reinforce home-field advantage.

“You’re definitely probably at a little disadvantage being the road team with a guy at second,” Marlins manager Don Mattingly said. “Even if you score, we see what happens today, they can still bunt. They can still have options on you.”

Here are four other takeaways from the game.

Resilient Fish

If there was a way to look at this loss as a moral victory, it would be that it was another example of the Marlins showing resiliency. Miami entered the game leading MLB with 49.7 perfect of their runs scored with two outs. Had the Rays been held in check in the bottom half, Joyce’s two-out knock would have been the go-ahead run. This is clearly a product of Miami’s heavy veteran presence.

“I think you do see a difference when you get some older veteran guys and Matt is a good example of that,” Mattingly said. “He just knows what he’s doing up there, been in a lot of situations but is not gonna panic. So those guys hang with their game plan. They don’t abort after one strike. I think part of that is a product of having older veteran guys that are still in a situation where you’re expecting production. You’re not looking at just leadership. You’re looking for production from those guys.”

Trevor Rogers shows improvement

Marlins starting pitcher Trevor Rogers had his best outing, striking out 10 batters and allowing three runs on four hits in six innings. Each start has seen him last one inning longer.

“Last two starts I kind of had a short leash, went four (innings) then went five. This game, I went a little later in the game. The breaking ball and changeup was huge. So learning just to how to pitch backwards late in the game is definitely going to play well in the future.”

Marte-bombs

Starling Marte continues to be a shrewd pickup for the Marlins. He began the game with a two-run home run off Rays starter Tyler Glasgow. Since joining the Marlins, Marte has batted .273 with two home runs and three RBIs. The Marlins gave up three pitchers to acquire him from the Arizona Diamondbacks including Caleb Smith and Humberto Mejia. President of Baseball Operations Michael Hill made it known that the team intends to pick up Marte’s 2021 option.

Jazz Hands … and Glove

Speaking of trades with the Diamondbacks, rookie shortstop Jazz Chisholm knocked in a single at the top of the seventh for his first hit as a big leaguer. He flashed the glove in the eighth inning by running down a fly ball in shallow centerfield to make an over-the-shoulder running catch. Chisholm was acquired by the Marlins in a trade with Arizona last season for starting pitcher Zac Gallen, who has 1.80 ERA in eight starts this season with 54 strikeouts in 50 innings pitched.