Derek Hill slugged his first career grand slam and rookie Valente Bellozo earned his first major league win as the Miami Marlins beat the visiting Cincinnati Reds 6-4 on Wednesday night.
Miami's Jake Burger homered twice to complement Hill's blast.
The Reds, who lead this four-game series 2-1, were powered by TJ Friedl, who hit the game's second grand slam.
Bellozo (1-1) allowed five hits and two walks across 5 2/3 scoreless innings. A 24-year-old who is far from a top prospect, Bellozo also cooled off Cincinnati superstar Elly De La Cruz, who struck out twice and grounded out once in three at-bats against the Mexico native.
Stopping De La Cruz was crucial for Miami. In the first two games of this series, the star shortstop went 8-for-10 with five RBIs, four doubles and two homers. On Wednesday, De La Cruz went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts and one walk.
Calvin Faucher pitched a shaky but scoreless ninth for his second save of the season.
Andrew Abbott (9-9) took the loss after allowing six hits, three walks and six runs in five innings. He struck out seven.
Cincinnati trailed 6-0 in the seventh before Friedl hit his grand slam on an elevated 0-2 fastball from reliever Andrew Nardi.
The Reds loaded the bases with two outs in the ninth against Faucher, who then induced a game-ending groundout by Jeimer Candelario.
Miami exploded for five runs in the first inning.
Burger hit a one-out solo shot before Jonah Bride singled and Jesus Sanchez and Otto Lopez both walked. Hill then hit his 412-foot grand slam to right-center.
Cincinnati tried to cut into its 5-0 deficit in the second inning by loading the bases with two outs. After falling behind in the count to Jonathan India, Bellozo recovered to freeze him on a 2-2 fastball to end the threat.
Burger made it 6-0 in the fifth with the longest homer of the night -- a 422-foot bomb to left.
--Field Level Media
Cincinnati | Miami | |
Andrew Abbott | Player | Valente Bellozo |
Loss | W/L | Win |
5.0 | IP | 5.2 |
7 | Strikeouts | 4 |
6 | Hits | 5 |
10.80 | ERA | 0.00 |
Cincinnati | Miami | |
Jake Fraley | Player | Jake Burger |
2 | Hits | 2 |
0 | RBI | 2 |
0 | HR | 2 |
2 | TB | 8 |
.500 | Avg | .500 |
Team | Hits | HR | TB | Avg | LOB | K | RBI | BB | SB | Errors |
Cincinnati | 10 | 1 | 16 | .270 | 18 | 8 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 |
Miami | 8 | 3 | 17 | .267 | 5 | 10 | 6 | 3 | 1 | 0 |