The 13-3 final score tells the story of what the Florida Marlins did to the Dodgers in a win Wednesday night, but it’s what the Dodgers did to themselves in the second inning that likely led to the outcome.
With the bases loaded and one out in a scoreless game, pitcher Anthony DeSclafani hit a chopper to Dee Gordon that should’ve been a tailor-made, inning-ending, double play. Instead, Gordon turned his head before he caught the ball, it bounced off his glove into right field, two runs scored and the Marlins got rolling. Christian Yelich followed with a sacrifice fly to make it 3-0. Ed Lucas then blasted a home run to left center to make it 5-0. Giancarlo Stanton, who had three hits and extended his hitting streak to 16 games, capped the inning by scoring from second base on an infield single by Jeff Baker.
The score was 6-0 and the game was essentially over.
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The Marlins gave an encore of their six-run second inning by plating six more runs in the fourth highlighted by a two-run homer from Reed Johnson and a three-run homer Jeff Mathis.
Tough luck for Dodgers starter Paul Maholm (1-4) who took the loss. The labor-intensive second inning clearly took its toll on the lefty. He went 3 2/3 innings and allowed 10 runs but only five were earned.
Dodgers manager Don Mattingly was forced to dig deep into his bullpen using five relievers. Not wanting to burn a sixth, he sent out Drew Butera to the mound in the ninth inning. The backup catcher retired the side in order in mop up duty and even recorded a strike out. It was Butera’s second career appearance. In 2012 he pitched a scoreless inning as a Minnesota Twin.
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The headliner of the night was DeSclafani. Called up from Double-A to start in place of injured phenom Jose Fernandez, the rookie was solid in his Major League debut tossing six innings, allowing two runs and striking out seven for his first win. DeSclafani (1-0) even picked up his first Major League hit and first two RBIs for good measure.
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Yasiel Puig went 1 for 4 to extend his hitting streak to 14 games. Catcher A.J. Ellis was activated from the disabled list Wednesday and made his first start in over a month. He went 0 for 4.
