After Miami bats chase ace, Myers delivers clutch decisive homer

MIAMI -- If Jesús Sánchez was not dealing with a hamstring issue, Marlins manager Skip Schumaker said he would have used him as a pinch-hitter in the seventh inning on Saturday.

“It shows you how smart I am,’’ Schumaker said with a grin.

Instead, Dane Myers stepped to the plate with a runner on first and the Marlins down a run.

Myers smashed a 1-1 breaking ball, putting it over the center-field wall to lift Miami to a 4-3 win over the Chicago White Sox at loanDepot park.

“There you go,’’ Schumaker said.

Miami had lost its past five games -- and had trailed on Saturday from the top of the first until Myers got his third hit of the day with his second home run of the season.

The Marlins bullpen closed it out by putting Chicago down in order in the eighth and ninth innings.

“Just to give the team a chance to win feels good,” said Myers, who will be back in the lineup for Sunday’s series finale according to Schumaker.

“It was a hanging breaking ball and I took one of those in the first at-bat against [Michael] Soroka so I saw that one pop and didn’t want to miss it. It feels good to not only come through, but for Skip to have the trust in me to take that at-bat.”

Miami trailed 3-0 by the third inning, not a good predicament considering it was facing Chicago ace Garrett Crochet.

Only the Marlins went deep into counts on Crochet, fouled off 28 of his pitches and forced him out after four innings with 93 pitches.

Miami trailed 3-2 when Crochet left the game.

“Early on, it wasn’t that great. He was throwing 97-98 mph at the top of the zone, doing what we thought he was going to do, we just couldn’t catch up,’’ Schumaker said.

“Later in the game, we brought it down, took some really good at-bats, laid off the cutter and slider, which was the key to that. We had some good at-bats down in the lineup with Myers, especially. … I think it was 40-plus pitches in the fourth, which was really good to get to their bullpen.’’

Said Crochet: “I don’t really have an answer. Clearly they had a good plan going into the game. Clearly they executed it well. I didn’t feel like I threw too many pitches over the heart but when I did, they resulted in base hits.”

On the flip side, Miami starter Yonny Chirinos settled in after a rocky start.

He went five innings, retiring the final seven batters he faced.

“He kept the ball on the ground,’’ Schumaker said of Chirinos. “He had 80 percent first-pitch strikes, his slider was super-effective today, which I thought kept the ball off the barrel.’’

Including Chirinos, Miami pitching set down 19 of Chicago’s final 20 batters.

Although Nicky Lopez drew a one-out walk in the seventh, Huascar Brazoban (1-1) struck out the next two as he picked up the win with two strong innings while striking out five.

“Brazoban has been outstanding,’’ Schumaker said. “He has provided multiple innings, multiple times.’’

A.J. Puk (three batters in the eighth) and closer Tanner Scott (three in the ninth) finished things off.

“I felt good out there, was attacking, putting the ball in play,’’ Chirinos said through team interpreter Luis Dorante Jr. “Most important of all, you get to learn from your mistakes, and that keeps you in the game a little longer. It’s a learning experience.’’

Down 3-0, Myers (3-for-4, 3 RBIs) singled in Vidal Bruján in the third to make it 3-1. In the fourth, Bruján drove in Xavier Edwards with a single.

Jake Burger, who was traded from the White Sox to the Marlins last season, led off the seventh with a walk.

Schumaker left Myers in, and it paid off as his shot to center went a Statcast-projected 420 feet off Soroka (0-9).

“Anytime our bullpen comes into the game, we feel really good, and they showed that today,” Burger said. “It was awesome for Dane to get that go-ahead home run for us.’’