Stowers, Caissie Homers as Marlins Dominate Diamondbacks

MIAMI — The Fightin’ Fish sent the Diamondbacks into disarray. 

The Miami Marlins  continued their offensive onslaught over Arizona with an 8-0 win on Wednesday. It was the second game in a row in which they knocked in 10 hits or more. 

The Marlins (33-35) have won three series in a row and now have 22 wins at home this season. Miami entered Wednesday in the top five in nearly every offensive category and seventh in runs (164) and batting average (.250). They kept it going with a six-run fourth inning rally. 

“We executed our plan,” Marlins outfielder Owen Caissie said. “We really just stayed up the middle and hit the ball hard.”

The Marlins got the offense going in the third inning to take a 1-0 lead. Liam Hicks hit a triple and scored on a single by Otto Lopez. 

Both Caissie and Kyle Stowers homered in the fourth inning. Caissie hit a 110 mph line drive that went straight towards the right field wall for two runs, and Stowers hit a towering three-run bomb to right field to make it a 7-0 game. 

“I didn’t know if it was gonna get up or not,” Caissie said. “I thought it was gonna hit the wall.”

In between the homers was another RBI single by Otto Lopez, who finished with a 2-for-5 night and slightly raised his MLB-leading batting average to .342 on the season. Lopez also has 51 hits at home. 

Caissie drove in the last run on a sacrifice fly in the fifth inning. Caissie’s 33 RBIs rank second among the Marlins so far this season. 

Ryan Gusto threw four scoreless innings with three hits allowed, with four strikeouts in his longest outing of the season with Miami. Lake Bachar, William Kempner (who got the win), and Cade Gibson combined to strike out six batters and allow only three hits.

Ryne Nelson was charged with the loss for the Diamondbacks after giving up seven runs on eight hits in four innings. The Diamondbacks (34-33) have lost nine of their last 12 games. 

The Marlins have won seven of their last eight games since the start of June. 

“We’re just playing as a good ball club,” Caissie said. “We’re really showing that we can play some good baseball. We’re playing the Marlin way.”

The Marlins will go for the sweep on Thursday afternoon with Tyler Phillips (1-0, 2.08 ERA) on the mound. It will be his third start of the season after moving from the bullpen to the rotation. The Diamondbacks will look to Merrill Kelly (5-4, 5.71 ERA) to stop the skid. 

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