Samad Taylor knocks in two, steals base

Although they have no real shot at this point, the Marlins have gone all out the last two days, resulting in a pair of crushing defeats for the D-backs. Marsee had his second nice game of the series, having gone 3-for-4 with a homer and a triple on Monday. He’s hitting .447 in his last 10 games, raising his average from .208 to /227 and his OPS from .659 to .702.

Pavin Smith and Gabriel Moreno homered for the runs, so the other six hits didn’t do any damage. Gusto, though, failed to complete five innings for the sixth time in his last eight starts. He’ll likely face the Cubs next week.

After giving up four runs in five innings Monday, Alcantara tonight made his first ever relief appearance with the Marlins and got three outs on 329- and 396-foot flyballs and then a caught stealing after a walk. The 329-footer was actually closer to being a homer than the 396-footer, since it was right down the left field line. Alcantara averaged 100.4 mph with his fastball in the one-inning outing, which is three mph better higher than his average as a starter this season. Alcantara’s only previous relief appearances came in his only eight games with the Cardinals in 2017 before he was traded to the Marlins that winter. He’s still slated to start Sunday against the Padres.

Kelly fanned nine, topping his previous season high for strikeouts by two, but that wasn’t enough tonight. He walked two in a two-run second and then gave up a two-run homer in the third. Kelly is 1-6 with a 5.32 ERA since the beginning of August and 9-14 with a 5.00 ERA overall. He’ll pitch in Colorado next week.

It’s Hernández’s first four-hit game of the year. He was batting just .193 in his previous 46 games, though that did come with 10 homers. At .232/.316/.450 overall, he’s seemingly assured himself of a place in the Marlins’ plans for next year. Still, his status as a full-timer will probably be up in the air.

Moreno has overtaken Nick Gonzales and Otto Lopez to move into second place in the NL with a .307 average. Only Luis Arraez, at .316, is ahead of him. Moreno is also 11th in the majors with an .870 OPS, placing him right in between Bryce Harper and Kyle Schwarber.

Batting from the ninth spot in the order, Salas had a solo homer in the second and a two-run homer in the fifth. At 20 years and 107 days, he’s the youngest players to have a two-homer game since Vladimir Guerrero Jr. in 2019. He’s the youngest catcher to do so since at least 1900, overtaking Butch Wynegar in 1976 (20 years, 192 days). Salas’s only previous hit in eight major league games was a triple. With his three hits having counted for 11 total bases, he’s sporting an interesting .143/.143/.524 line to date.

Ray allowed three hits, walked two and struck out six to move to 3-2 with a 5.22 ERA in eight starts for the Padres and 13-8 with a 3.60 ERA overall. He’ll face the Dodgers next Tuesday and then maybe the D-backs in the regular season finale.

After going without one in his first four starts, Adams’ first career decision turned out to be a loss, as he gave up nearly as many runs tonight and is in his previous outings combined (seven runs in 18 2/3 innings). He’ll have another home start next week against the Diamondbacks.

Taylor had been without an RBI in 11 games since coming off the IL on Aug. 30. Still, he has been running. He’s 4-for-5 in his 12 games since returning and 10-for-12 overall in 38 games on the season.