Extra Tough Loss in Oakland

The Marlins fell to the Oakland Athletics on Friday by the score of 7-6 in 11 innings.  Following two comebacks by the Marlins in the 8th and 9th innings, the A’s brought home the winning run after an error by Luis Gonzalez in left field.   The fish stayed two back of the Philadelphia Phillies as the first place team in the NL East lost as well.

Mark Hendrickson made the start and allowed 4 earned runs in 6.1 innings of work.    Three of the runs came on back-to-back home runs in the 4th inning.  The lefty showed good control in the game striking out 4 while walking 2 and looked more like the pitcher who went undefeated in April than the recent struggling pitcher.  Justin Miller was first out of the pen and finished the 7th inning with two thirds of an inning of scoreless relief.   Renyel Pinto was next and allowed two earned runs in two thirds of an inning.    Joe Nelson pitched for 1.1 innings and allowed no earned runs but did pick up the blown save when he allowed Pinto’s runners to score.    Doug Waechter was the last pitcher to throw for the fish and was tagged with the loss when the Athletics won the game in the 11th.  Waechter allowed 1 run which was unearned in one inning of work.

The Marlins hit 4 home runs in this game including two from Dan Uggla.   The 2nd basemen now has 23 homers on the season giving him the major league lead.  The 2nd blast came in the top of the 9th while the fish trailed by one to tie the game up.   The other blasts were hit by Hanley Ramirez (16) and Jeremy Hermida (7).   Uggla had 4 hits in the game while Wes Helms and Hanley Ramirez had 3 hits each.   Hermida added a two hit game of his own.

On Saturday, the series continues as Ricky Nolasco takes on Dana Eveland for the Athletics.