Luis Arraez lined an RBI single to right in the bottom of the 10th inning as the Miami Marlins broke their eight-game losing streak with a 3-2 win over the visiting Colorado Rockies on Sunday afternoon.
Arraez, who leads the majors with a .379 batting average, went 3-for-4, including his first career walk-off hit off the Rockies’ Pierce Johnson (1-5). Arraez also had a key RBI double that tied the score 1-1 in the sixth inning.
Rockies designated hitter Randal Grichuk helped force extra innings when he slugged a game-tying solo homer in the ninth.
Marlins starter Jesus Luzardo got a no-decision despite striking out a career-high 13 batters. He allowed four hits, two walks and one run in seven innings, throwing a career-high 115 pitches. Huascar Brazoban (4-2) pitched the final 1 1/3 innings for Miami to earn the win.
Miami’s losing streak was the longest active skid in the majors.
Colorado, which entered this weekend with the worst record in the National League, fell one victory shy of its first three-game road sweep of the season.
Brenton Doyle had a big game for the Rockies, slugging a solo homer and making a sensational catch in center field.
The Rockies played without two of their top sluggers. C.J. Cron sat out his second straight game due to back stiffness. Outfielder Kris Bryant sat out after getting hit by a pitch on Saturday.
Colorado opened the scoring in the fifth as Doyle slugged his opposite-field homer to right.
Doyle saved a run in the bottom of the fifth, as Jesus Sanchez drew a two-out walk and would have scored on Dane Myers’ blast to center. But Doyle made a leaping, running grab on the warning track to end the inning.
The Marlins rallied in the sixth, tying the score when Nick Fortes singled, advanced to second on a wild pitch and raced home on Arraez’s opposite-field double to left-center field. Then, after a single by Jorge Soler, Arraez scored on Yuli Gurriel’s sacrifice fly.
Colorado nearly tied the score in the seventh as Grichuk singled, advanced on Alan Trejo’s walk and reached third on a two-out wild pitch. With Doyle at the plate, Luzardo bounced a 1-2 pitch that Fortes blocked. On the next pitch, Doyle swung and missed, and Luzardo jumped off the mound with his career-high 13th strikeout.
However, Marlins closer A.J. Puk blew a save chance in the ninth when he allowed Grichuk’s one-out homer, tying the score at 2-2. Grichuk’s blast was measured at 438 feet.
–Field Level Media
