Marlins' streak comes to screeching halt ahead of pivotal series 

MIAMI -- The good thing for Miami is that a lopsided loss -- in this case, a 10-0 defeat to the Dodgers on Thursday night at loanDepot park -- only counts as one game for the contending Marlins.

It was one of those games for Miami, which had its six-game winning streak snapped in nearly historic fashion, as Los Angeles right-hander Ryan Pepiot was tossing a perfect game until Josh Bell’s two-out single in the seventh inning.

After a forgettable performance in the third game of a stretch of 16 games in 16 days, Miami (72-68) heads to Philadelphia (77-62) for a pivotal weekend series against the Phillies, who hold the top National League Wild Card spot.

• Games remaining: at PHI (3), at MIL (4), vs. ATL (3), vs. NYM (3), vs. MIL (3), at NYM (3), at PIT (3)
• Standings update: The Marlins and Reds (73-69) are a half-game behind the D-backs (73-68) for the final NL Wild Card spot. The idle Giants (70-70) are two games back of Miami. The Marlins would hold the tiebreaker over the D-backs, based on winning the head-to-head series (4-2). Miami split the season series with both Cincinnati and San Francisco, but the Marlins' intradivision record (19-21, .475) would currently give them the second tiebreaker over the Reds (18-25, .419), but not the Giants (19-14, .576).

“They've probably already flushed it,” manager Skip Schumaker said. “When you're on this long streak of games, you're going to have games like this every now and then. Hopefully, that's out of our system. You have games like last night [an 11-4 win] that happen every now and then.

"That's why this game is crazy. Just when you think you have it figured out, it just punches you right in the mouth. That's why people keep coming back for more. We'll keep going, keep fighting. Just credit to Pepiot. He just had a great outing, and we couldn't get him in the strike zone.”

Before Bell’s ground-ball single to center field on a changeup below the zone, the Marlins had come close to a hit three times, including twice in the fourth inning. But Dodgers shortstop Miguel Rojas and second baseman Amed Rosario made back-to-back sliding plays to rob Luis Arraez (.610 xBA) and Jake Burger (.340 xBA), respectively. Rosario also leapt to snare Arraez’s liner (.950 xBA) to lead off the seventh. Miami’s only other hit was pinch-hitter Garrett Hampson’s single off the second-base bag to lead off the eighth.

This marked the second time in the past month that Pepiot stymied the Marlins. On Aug. 19 at Dodger Stadium, he served as the bulk man in Game 1 of a doubleheader, giving up just one run off three hits and one walk over five innings in his season debut.

Entering Thursday’s finale, Miami’s lineup -- which is without All-Star slugger Jorge Soler for an indefinite time -- had scored six or more runs in six straight games (all wins) for the first time since 2009.

“Obviously, you just try to simplify, put the ball in play there,” Bell said. “I felt like he did a really good job of spinning the fastball, speeding us up a little bit. His changeup was working really well tonight. Sometimes, you've got to tip your cap. But definitely happy to scratch that knock off.”

The Marlins’ pitching staff, on the other hand, combined to allow 16 hits, five walks and two hit-by-pitches. Schumaker so often says starting pitching sets the tone -- good or bad -- and it was the latter from left-hander Braxton Garrett, who was chased with two outs in the fourth.

Garrett was unable to put away batters, walking three and hitting another, though he permitted just one run thanks to J.T. Chargois stranding a pair of inherited runners. It was an uncharacteristic outing for Garrett, who entered with the fourth-lowest walks-per-nine rate (1.4) in the Majors and had gone at least five frames in seven straight starts. Relievers George Soriano (five runs in 1 1/3 innings) and Devin Smeltzer (four runs in 3 2/3 innings) fared even worse.

The struggles didn’t end there. Miami committed two errors, including one during a four-run sixth inning. A member of the grounds crew also picked up a ball in that inning that stayed fair down the right-field line and threw it into the stands. After the umpires convened, it was ruled an RBI double for Freddie Freeman, with Mookie Betts -- who was on first base at the time -- being awarded home.

“We took two out of three,” Garrett said. “We're going to flush this game here. That's just how this game is. You can't take a loss too hard. We're going to get to Philly tonight, refuel, get some sleep and try to go and take some games there.”