Soler stuns with 1st 4-hit game since 2019

SAN FRANCISCO -- Down to their final out in the top of the ninth inning, the Marlins had rallied to within two runs of the Giants and had speedy Jon Berti on first. Who better than Jorge Soler to step in against San Francisco closer Camilo Doval as the potential tying run?

Giants pitchers had no answer for Soler in his first four trips to the plate at Oracle Park on Sunday afternoon, surrendering four knocks and three RBIs to the Marlins outfielder. But Doval was able to crack the code, getting Soler to fly out to right and sealing Miami’s 7-5 loss as it dropped two of three games in the City by the Bay.

"That's the guy we wanted at that time," manager Skip Schumaker said. "Doval is not easy to hit off; that's one of the better closers in the game. … Tough matchup right there for anybody. The fight in those guys that gave us a chance to win with Soler up is all you can ask for."

Prior to his final at-bat, Soler was all but unstoppable at the plate as he recorded the fourth four-hit game of his career -- and his first since 2019 -- to power the Marlins' offense.

Soler set the tone for his big day by going deep off Giants lefty Alex Wood in the first inning, crushing the ball a Statcast-projected 436 feet to left field at 113.9 mph off the bat. It was just the second home run Wood had allowed in six starts this season.

"I was looking for inside pitches," Soler said in Spanish through team interpreter Luis Dorante Jr. "I know he's a guy who comes in very strong to the hitters. And he gave me a hanging slider on that one."

Soler also notched a third-inning single against Wood, continuing his tear vs. left-handed pitching early on in 2023. Among qualified batters, Soler leads the Majors in home runs (seven), slugging percentage (1.125) and OPS (1.638) against southpaws, trailing only the White Sox's Luis Robert Jr. with a .513 on-base percentage.

Of course, Soler isn't too shabby against right-handers either. After Wood exited in the fifth inning, Soler hit an RBI single off John Brebbia to tie the game at four runs apiece. Soler picked up his fourth and final knock of the day with a two-out single against Jakob Junis in the seventh.

"Soler hit the ball hard every time," Schumaker said. "And it's a home run every time Zeus pitches as well, I guess."

The peculiar trend in which Soler homers when Jesús Luzardo toes the rubber -- which has happened in seven of his 10 starts -- may have continued on Sunday afternoon, but it was ultimately not enough to overcome a tough day on the mound for the Marlins' lefty.

Facing a Giants lineup that has struggled against left-handed pitching (San Francisco's .653 OPS vs. southpaws trailed only Milwaukee's .635 for the worst mark in the National League), Luzardo allowed a season-high six runs, all earned, over five-plus innings.

Luzardo struck out eight batters and walked only one, but five of the six hits he allowed went for extra bases. It wasn't a sharp outing, but Schumaker felt that Luzardo looked better than his final line showed.

"The first-pitch strike, today, wasn't there," Miami's skipper said. "But he got back into counts and he was on the attack. I thought he did enough for us to win."

The series loss in San Francisco completed the first leg of Miami's 10-game, three-city road trip, the team's longest stretch of games away from loanDepot park this season. The Marlins have gone 4-2 to begin a stretch of 13 straight games without an off-day, all of which were decided by two runs or fewer.

"When the offense does what they did, and they score a lot of runs and they give us the lead -- I feel like as a pitcher, your job is to maintain leads," Luzardo said. "I take responsibility for that loss. I didn't do what I needed to do. I'll just try to, in five days, keep us in the ballgame a little bit better and not let that crooked number happen."