PHOENIX, May 9 \u2014 Brandon Pfaadt<\/a><\/strong>, the highly touted Arizona Diamondbacks<\/a> pitching prospect, had his second rough outing in as many major league starts as the Miami Marlins<\/a> defeated the Diamondbacks, 6\u20132, in a game that wasn\u2019t as close as the score suggested. Jorge Soler<\/a><\/strong> went 2-for-4 to lead the Marlins to victory, with two tape-measure homers, five RBI, and two runs scored. Marlins starter Jesus Luzardo<\/a><\/strong> scattered seven hits across six innings, limiting the Diamondbacks to one earned run while walking two and striking out five. Evan Longoria<\/a><\/strong> was 3-for-4 for the Diamondbacks in the loss, finishing a triple shy of the cycle.<\/p>\n \u201cLittle bit of a stinker out there,\u201d manager Torey Lovullo<\/a><\/strong> summarized after the game. \u201c(Brandon) was relying a little bit too much on his fastball. He wasn\u2019t pitching<\/em>. He\u2019s got a full arsenal of pitches. And he can work off of his fastball, read and react to swings, make adjustments, and make quality pitches at all times. But I thought his fastball command was a little erratic. He was staying stubborn to it, got clipped for a three-run home run, and that ended up equaling a big, crooked number.\u201d<\/p>\n Center fielder Jazz Chisholm Jr.<\/a><\/strong> lined the first pitch of the game into right field for a single. Two batters later, and after Chisholm stole second, second baseman Luis Arraez<\/a><\/strong> singled to center, advancing Chisholm to third with one out. Left fielder Bryan De La Cruz<\/a><\/strong> popped to second, giving Pfaadt a chance to escape with no damage, but right fielder Jesus Sanchez<\/a><\/strong> belted a double to left, scoring Chisholm. A fly to deep right by first baseman Yuli Gurriel<\/a><\/strong> ended the frame with the Marlins leading, 1\u20130.<\/p>\n Pfaadt seemed to have settled down in the top of the second after Luzardo pitched a 1\u20132\u20133 bottom of the first. Shortstop Joey Wendle<\/a><\/strong> and catcher Nick Fortes<\/a><\/strong> popped to short and grounded to short, respectively. However, third baseman Jon Berti<\/a><\/strong> extended the inning with a double to the gap in right-center. After Chisholm walked, Soler \u2014 the designated hitter \u2014 launched a 468-foot bomb to left-center, the ball landing on the stadium concourse for a majestic three-run homer. Arraez flied to the shortstop in shallow left, retiring the side with the Marlins holding a 4\u20130 advantage.<\/p>\n The Diamondbacks got on the board in the bottom of the fourth. First baseman Christian Walker<\/a><\/strong> drew a one-out walk and advanced to second on a follow-up single to right by third baseman Evan Longoria. Center fielder and speed demon Corbin Carroll<\/a><\/strong> hit a sinking liner toward second, forcing Longoria to hold up halfway. A charging Arraez had to short hop it. With no chance to retire Carroll, Arraez threw to second for an easy force play. Shortstop Nick Ahmed<\/a><\/strong> ripped a single to left, scoring Walker. Catcher Gabriel Moreno<\/a><\/strong> walked, loading the bases for right fielder Dominic Fletcher<\/a><\/strong>. Fletcher hit a high bouncer behind the mound that had a chance to be an infield single. But Berti charged hard to his left and leapt, snatching the ball out of the air in time to nab the speedy Fletcher by a narrow margin.<\/p>\n The score did not remain 4\u20131 for long, as the Marlins struck again in the top of the fifth. Chisholm drew a leadoff walk, bringing up Soler, who mashed his second dinger of the game. The high looper to the seats under the overhang in left-center \u2014 \u201conly\u201d 433 feet, this time \u2014 extended the Marlins lead to 6\u20131. A low, sharp liner toward left by Arraez threatened to be the seventh Marlins hit of the game, but a full-extension dive by Ahmed turned it into a lineout. De La Cruz did<\/em> get the seventh Marlins hit, following with a single, but a 4\u20136\u20133 double play groundout by Sanchez retired the side. The fifth inning \u2014 and Pfaadt\u2019s outing \u2014 ended with the Marlins holding a 6\u20131 lead.<\/p>\n \u201cIt didn\u2019t go as planned,\u201d Pfaadt said, \u201cbut there\u2019s always something to learn. Like I said last time (in Texas), there\u2019s one hitter that killed us again tonight. I think there\u2019s something to build off of.\u201d Pfaadt was referring, of course, to Jorge Soler. When asked what made Soler difficult, Pfaadt said, \u201cWe tried to attack him in. I missed a few times in, which didn\u2019t open up away as much as we would have liked.\u201d<\/p>\n With the rest of the hitters, Pfaadt made most of his mistakes over the middle, leading to lots of hard contact. Pfaadt doesn\u2019t think it\u2019s mechanical, but instead comes from a lack of trust in himself. \u201cI (need to) trust myself to get ahead on the corners instead of trying to nitpick.\u201d He said this made him fall behind in the count and forced him to ultimately \u201cattack in the zone.\u201d<\/p>\n Pfaadt said his lesson from this game was \u201cthat trying to nitpick at corners and getting behind \u2014 which ultimately leads to leaving balls middle \u2014 I think we need to do a better job at that.\u201d<\/p>\nThe Big, Crooked Number<\/h3>\n
Diamondbacks Try to Chip Away, but Marlins Widen Lead<\/h3>\n
\u201cAlways Something to Learn\u201d<\/h3>\n
Too Little, Too Late, as Marlins Slam Door on Diamondbacks<\/h3>\n