Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Marlins Shuffle Cards

    The Miami Marlins avoided a three-game sweep by the St. Louis Cardinals Wednesday night with a 5-3 victory at Marlins Park. Miami blasted back-to-back home runs by John Buck and Logan Morrison in the seventh inning to take the lead for the win. The Marlins begin a three-game series at home on Friday against the Philadelphia Phillies
    In his third appearance in the majors, Joe Kelly went six innings for the Cardinals and surrendered two runs on five hits. On the other side, Anibal Sanchez(4-6) went seven innings for the Fish and gave up three runs on seven hits.
    St. Louis jumped on the Marlins in the first inning with two runs. John Jay walked with one out and advanced to third on a double by Matt Holliday to deep right field. Carlos Beltran knocked Jay in on a sacrifice fly to left field. David Freese followed with a double to left field to score Holliday for a 2-0 lead.
    Miami came back to tie the game at 2-2 with two runs in the fifth inning. Omar Infante led off with a walk and went to second as Gaby Sanchez also walked. John Buck ripped a single to left center to score Infante and Sanchez advanced to third. After Anibal Sanchez pulled off a sacrifice bunt and Buck going to second, Jose Reyes grounded out to second for Gaby Sanchez to tie it up.
    Santaluces High School grad Tony Lopez hit his first major league homer in the seventh inning. It was a lead-off solo home run to left field on a 0-0 count as the Cards retook the lead 3-2.
    The Marlins picked up two runs in the bottom of the frame with a solo home run by Buck on a 1-0 pitch to left field off Fernando Salas with one out. It was Buck's seventh home run of the season. Logan Morrison came in to pinch-hit and St. Louis replaced Salas on the mound with Sam Freeman(0-1). Morrison took a 1-0 pitch barely over the right field fence for back-to-back homers and a 4-3 Miami lead. Instant replay was needed by the umpire crew to change the initial call from a double to a homer. For Morrison, it was his first career pinch-hit home run and his eighth round-tripper this year.
    Miami extended their lead to 5-3 in the eighth inning against Victor Marte. With one out, Greg Dobbs and Justin Ruggiano both singled to center field. Infante doubled to left field to score Dobbs, but Ruggiano was tagged out at the plate on a good relay. Heath Bell stopped the Cardinals in the ninth inning for his 15th save.

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