Rookie second baseman Michael Brosseau homered and slashed an RBI single, leading the host Tampa Bay Rays to a 7-2 win over the Miami Marlins on Sunday afternoon.
The Rays, who have won six straight games, swept all four contests this season from their cross-state rival Marlins, who have the worst record in the National League.
Brosseau, who went 3-for-4 with two RBIs, has five homers this season. His previous four homers were against the Baltimore Orioles.
Yonny Chirinos (9-5) earned the win, allowing just two hits, one walk and one run while striking out four. However, he left after just five innings due to a blister on his pitching hand.
Caleb Smith (7-5) took the loss, allowing three runs, one earned, in five innings.
Tampa Bay opened the scoring in the first -- with a lot of help from Miami. Leadoff batter Matt Duffy drew a four-pitch walk. Tommy Pham's potential double-play grounder ate up shortstop Miguel Rojas for a fielding error. And Jesus Aguilar hit a sacrifice fly after his at-bat was extended by a foul popup that catcher Bryan Holaday could not find initially.
Then, after Marlins third baseman Jon Berti failed to field Avisail Garcia's slowly hit grounder -- it was ruled a hit -- Brosseau banged an RBI single for a 2-0 Rays lead.
Brosseau's homer gave Tampa Bay a 3-0 lead in the third, but Brian Anderson got that run back in the fourth with his solo blast. It was Anderson's team-high and career-high 17th homer of the season.
Miami threatened in the sixth as Rojas, facing reliever Diego Castillo, hit a leadoff triple. Castillo then struck out Berti and got Garrett Cooper to ground out, keeping Rojas at third. After Anderson walked, the Marlins tried a double steal. However, Rojas was caught at home on a throw from shortstop Willy Adames to catcher Mike Zunino.
The Rays put the game away in the seventh, getting an RBI single from Travis d'Arnaud and a two-run double off the wall in right-center by Garcia.
In the eighth, the teams traded runs as Miami got an RBI groundout from Berti, and Aguilar hit his first homer since the Rays acquired him just before the trade deadline.
--Field Level Media
Miami | Tampa Bay | |
Caleb Smith | Player | Yonny Chirinos |
Loss | W/L | Win |
5.0 | IP | 5.0 |
4 | Strikeouts | 4 |
6 | Hits | 2 |
1.80 | ERA | 1.80 |
Miami | Tampa Bay | |
Brian Anderson | Player | Michael Brosseau |
2 | Hits | 3 |
1 | RBI | 2 |
1 | HR | 1 |
5 | TB | 6 |
.667 | Avg | .750 |