Hicks Homers as Surging Marlins Sink Slumping Pirates

The Miami Marlins continue their scorching start to June. 

Liam Hicks homered to highlight an offensive barrage against the Pittsburgh Pirates, winning 8-3 on Friday in Pittsburgh. Hicks went 3-for-5 with a double and his 50th RBI of the season. 

The Marlins (34-34), who are 9-1 in June, totaled 11 hits as a team. Kyle Stowers and Heriberto Hernandez each collected two hits, while Owen Caissie drove in two runs. 

Sandy Alcantara went eight innings for the Marlins, with three runs allowed on five hits with seven strikeouts. The Marlins ace earned his 1,000th career strikeout, putting him within nine punchouts of tying Ricky Nolasco (1,001) for the franchise record. Technically, he has 1,002 career strikeouts but the first 10 came with the St. Louis Cardinals in 2017. 

“He’s our guy,” Stowers said to the Marlins Radio Network. “When he’s on the mound we always feel good about our chances that day.”

Otto Lopez went 1-for-5, including driving in the tying run on a groundout in the fifth inning. The Marlins shortstop continues to lead the Majors in batting average (.342), hits (94), and multi-hit games (29), furthering his case for the All-Star Game. 

The Pirates took a small early lead in the third inning on an RBI single by Jared Triolo. 

The Marlins took back the lead in the fifth with an RBI single by Stowers. 

Endy Rodriguez hit a solo home run in the bottom of the fifth to tie the game for the Pirates. Rodriguez went 2-for-4 with a double to lead the Pirates at the plate. 

The floodgates broke open in the seventh inning with four runs for the Marlins. Xavier Edwards started the rally with a sacrifice fly, followed by a single by Hernandez and a two-run double by Caissie to put Miami up 6-2. 

Hicks’ two-run homer came in the eighth inning to cap the scoring for the Marlins. 

“No matter what the score of the game is, not giving away at-bats, always looking to add on or if we’re down, looking to make it hard on the other team,” Stowers said. “Play all nine innings.”

The Pirates offered a last bit of resistance with a solo home run by Brandon Lowe in the ninth inning. Marlins reliever John King came in to close out the game with a strikeout and one hit allowed. 

The Pirates (35-35) were swept by the Atlanta Braves last weekend and dropped 2-of-3 against the Los Angeles Dodgers leading up to Friday’s contest. 

Braxton Ashcraft went five innings, allowing two runs on five hits with four strikeouts. The bullpen let him down. Wilber Dotal gave up four runs on 1.2 innings and was charged with the loss. Antwone Kelly pitched the final 2.1 innings with two runs allowed in his MLB debut. 

The Marlins will go with a bullpen game on Saturday, looking to win their fourth straight series. The Pirates will look to respond with Bubba Chandler (2-7, 4.91 ERA) on the mound. 

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