PITTSBURGH — And in the 38th inning, the Miami Marlins scored runs — four of them to be specific.
All it took was them tying the franchise record for longest scoring drought before breaking out of the team slump en route to beating the Pittsburgh Pirates, 8-1, on Friday at PNC Park.
The goal for the Marlins now: Find a way to ensure this wasn’t just a blip on the radar.
After all, the Marlins (44-49) entered Friday having been shut out for 34 consecutive innings. By failing to put up a run in the first three innings on Friday against Pittsburgh, the Marlins tied their franchise record with 37 consecutive innings without a run scored — matching the mark set exactly nine years ago on July 22, 2013 (the scoreless streak that year started on July 14).
“Right now,” third baseman Brian Anderson said pregame Friday, “we just need that one big hit just to kind of get us rolling.”
Little did Anderson know that he would be the one to start the rally that would end Miami’s streak of futility.
Anderson led off the fourth inning with a groundball single to the right side that deflected off second baseman Diego Castillo’s glove and into right field. An Avisail Garcia single to right put runners on first and second before Miguel Rojas hit a double to left field to score Anderson and give Miami its first run since the second inning against the Philadelphia Phillies on July 15.
All three hits came on the first pitch of the at-bat.
After a Jorge Soler groundout, Garcia scored on a wild pitch to give Miami a 2-1 lead. Jesus Sanchez walked to put runners on the corners, Nick Fortes hit an RBI groundout to score Rojas and Joey Wendle hit a single to center field to score Sanchez to cap scoring in the inning.
It was the first time the Marlins scored four runs in an inning since a four-run third inning against the Colorado Rockies on June 22.
Miami scored three more runs in the sixth on a Fortes two-run single and a Wendle double.
Garcia added a solo home run in the seventh inning, ending another dubious Marlins streak of nine consecutive games without a home run — also a mark that was tied for the longest in franchise history.
In total, every starter reached base at least once, eight had at least one hit (Wendle had a three-hit night, while Jesus Aguilar, Garcia and Rojas had multi-hit efforts) and seven had at least one run scored or one RBI.
Time will tell if the Marlins are able to follow it up. Miami plays the Pirates again at 7:05 p.m. on Saturday.
But for at least one night, after a week yearning for any sort of results, the Marlins’ offense showed up.
On the mound
The offense backed up yet another strong start from Braxton Garrett.
The 24-year-old lefty held the Pirates (39-55) to one earned run on two hits and a walk while striking out seven over six innings. Garrett threw 79 pitches, 58 of which went for strikes. The only run he allowed was a solo home run to Jason Delay in the third inning.
The only time Garrett looked out of sorts came in the first inning when he gave up a leadoff walk to Kevin Newman and infield single to Ke’Bryan Hayes. He got out of the jam without allowing a run by recording three consecutive strikeouts to Michael Chavis, Yoshi Tsutsugo and Diego Castillo. Garrett was at 28 pitches by the time he left the mound.
After the Delay home run, Garrett retired the final 12 batters he faced.
In four July starts, Garrett has a 1.80 ERA, allowing just five earned runs on 11 hits and five walks while striking out 25 over 25 innings. Four of the five runs he has allowed have been on home runs.
Steven Okert, Dylan Floro and Anthony Bass pitched three scoreless innings out of the bullpen to round out the win.
