Marlins Lose Late, Swept in Fourth Straight Series

MIAMI — 12 straight losses. 

That is the new franchise record in consecutive losses after the Miami Marlins dropped the series finale against the San Diego Padres 5-3 on Sunday in Miami.

The Marlins have fielded 14 different teams since the opening of loanDepot Park. Some had higher aspirations; many more were meant to be terrible. 

None of them were swept in four straight series. 

Whatever deal the Marlins made with the devil to be 10 games over .500 after sweeping the Seattle Mariners on July 9 came due the very next day. 

With 12 straight losses, the Marlins (52-54) went from within three games of first place in the National League East to now behind the Washington Nationals in fourth place. They went from tied for the second wild card spot to being four games out of the playoffs entirely. 

Sunday looked like it was going to be different. The storm was brewing around LoanDepot Park. The weather was pretty clear during the previous 11 losses, so who knows- maybe that’s the change necessary for the Fish’s fortunes. 

Using patience and small ball tactics, the Marlins took a 2-0 lead in the second inning. After the Marlins led off the inning with back-to-back walks, Esteury Ruiz drove in a run on a sacrifice bunt, and the second run came on a single by Graham Pauley. 

The Marlins increased their lead to 3-0 in the third inning after Kyle Stowers hit his 13th home run of the season, a solo shot to right field. 

Marlins starting pitcher left the game in the fifth inning after giving up an RBI double to Manny Machado, which put the Padres on the board. It was the only run given up by Junk all day, and Michael Peterson ended the inning without any further damage. 

The game quickly changed with the weather in the eighth inning. Jake Cronenworth led off the inning with a single and scored on a two-run homer by Machado, his 23rd of the season, to tie the game for the Padres. Soon after, Jackson Merrill hit his 15th home run of 2026 to give San Diego a 4-3 lead. The Padres capped the rally with Luis Rengifo doubling and scoring on a single by Luis Campusano. 

Junk went 4.2 innings on the mound with one run surrendered on seven hits with six strikeouts. Maybe he should have stayed in the game a little longer, as he only threw 75 pitches. 

The bullpen has quickly gone from being a strength to being a weakness. As effective as the other four relievers were on Sunday, it only takes one pitcher to come out of the bullpen and be ambushed by opposing bats to turn a win into a loss. The bullpen has posted a 5.45 ERA during this record-setting losing streak, which is the fifth worst in all of baseball. 

12 straight losses can turn into 15 straight very quickly with the Philadelphia Phillies coming to town. The Marlins have only won two games against the Phillies all season. 

The only bright side of where the Marlins are is that all they have to do is win tomorrow, and they can go back to looking like a team that is hovering around .500 and within an earshot of the playoffs. 

“Does anybody feel good? Certainly not,” Marlins manager Clayton McCullough said during his postgame press conference. “But to come in here each day and cry about it, make excuses, I don’t know what that’s going to do.”

The best thing about baseball is that there’s always tomorrow.

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