Marlins' bats silenced on solid night for Urena

MIAMI -- With José Ureña, there's been progression with little reward. There were more reminders on Wednesday night, when the 26-year-old Miami ace showed signs of promise, but still was hurt by the most basic of mistakes.
Overall, Urena was a workhorse and effective over seven innings. But he also put himself in harm's way with a costly throwing error in which the Phillies capitalized in their 6-0 win over the Marlins at Marlins Park.
The Marlins' four-game winning streak was snapped, and Urena's record fell to 0-5. The game reinforced the fact that against a quality starter, there's little margin for error.
Although Urena ended up getting through seven innings, while allowing two runs, it wasn't enough against Aaron Nola, who threw 7 1/3 shutout innings, scattering four hits, and a walk. After issuing a free pass to Lewis Brinson with one out in the second inning, Nola retired the next 17 he faced before Brinson's single with one out in the eighth.

"Jose has been OK all year, honestly," Marlins manager Don Mattingly said. "The numbers kind of show it. His strikeout rates are up. His swing-and-miss are up. His walks are down. He's hitting some tough games in there, but we've got to help him too."
For Urena, he was in an immediate bind, allowing a leadoff home run to César Hernández. In that at-bat, the right-hander fell behind in the count, 2-1, and Hernandez jumped on a 94.4-mph fastball.
"The first guy leads off with a homer, but that really doesn't bother me, because usually when a guy leads off with a homer, they always seem to lose that game, it seems like," Mattingly said.

In the second inning, a lapse by Urena accounted for an important insurance run. With two outs, Pedro Florimón doubled, and Jorge Alfaro was intentionally walked, bringing up Nola, who tapped back to the mound. With plenty of time to complete the out, Urena sailed a throw over Justin Bour's head at first, accounting for an unearned run.
"Obviously, the one that was costly is the error on Nola," Mattingly said. "[Urena] gets us all the way through seven, and gives us a chance. We just couldn't get anything rolling."
On the throw, Urena said his hand was a little sweaty, and the ball took off on him.

"I tried to make a nice and easy throw, and the ball flew out of my hand," he said. "One mistake, you've got to keep fighting because the game is not done yet."
In Urena's previous start, on Friday against the Rockies, the Marlins lost 1-0. The decisive run allowed by Urena was a two-out, RBI double to reliever Antonio Senzatela.
The Marlins capped a 4-2 homestand, taking two of three against the Rockies and the Phillies.

MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
The Marlins had chances early off Nola. In the first inning, Martín Prado and J.T. Realmuto each singled with one out, but Bour lined out sharply to right field and Brian Anderson struck out. In the second inning, Miguel Rojas singled but was picked off first base.
"It's one of those, you can't get picked there," Mattingly said. "It's a running count. It's a 3-2 count. It's more of a hit-and-run count. It's just mistakes we're making."

After Brinson walked, Yadiel Rivera struck out and Brinson was thrown out trying to steal second. Nola didn't allow another runner to reach until the eighth.
Bour's lineout in the first was 109.8 mph off the bat, according to Statcast™, and had a hit probability of 73 percent.
"We just couldn't get anything going. If some of the balls we hit decently fall in, then you've got a chance," Mattingly said. "[Nola] is a guy who is better out of the windup. You want to try to get him out of the stretch, where he's a little slower, and you can hit-and-run."

SOUND SMART
With his infield single in the first inning, Realmuto extended his hitting streak to 11 games, matching his personal high. The other 11-game streak was from July 25-Aug. 9, 2016.

HE SAID IT
"Great homestand. We played with a lot of energy. We've got to keep it going. It's a long year. You can't dwell on days or past weeks. We've got to keep coming with the same energy, same effort as a group." -- Marlins outfielder Cameron Maybin
UP NEXT
Marlins lefty Wei-Yin Chen on Friday night (7:10 p.m. ET) will be making his 150th MLB appearance, but his first against the Reds. Cincinnati is going with right-hander Sal Romano in the series opener at Great American Ball Park. The Marlins' .277 road batting average is tops in the Majors since 2016.