Marlins' depth shines as bottom half of lineup erupts in comeback win

MIAMI -- Jonathan Davis pumped his fist in jubilation as he cruised into second base during the Marlins’ four-run fourth inning on Monday night. Moments earlier, his double had sailed over right fielder MJ Melendez’s head for the go-ahead run in an eventual 9-6 Marlins victory over the Royals at loanDepot park.

Two weeks ago, Marlins fans likely had never heard of Davis, who had just 171 career MLB games on his resume. Miami acquired him in a trade with the Tigers for outfield prospect Brady Allen on May 22, and the 31-year-old Davis made his club debut the next day in Colorado.

For the second straight game, the Marlins erased a four-run deficit. Monday’s series opener was their fourth consecutive win -- all against rebuilding clubs. This time around, Miami’s unheralded names -- likely unknown to the national audience tuning in -- led the rally.

That’s not to say the offense didn’t get contributions from some of its usual suspects. Luis Arraez improved his average to .399 with a three-hit game and Bryan De La Cruz belted a two-run homer.

“I think our offense always feels like they're in the game, and when you're getting length out of the lineup from top to bottom, you feel really good about every single inning -- whether it starts with Arraez at the top or whoever six-, seven-hole hitter at the bottom,” manager Skip Schumaker said. “They're doing a really good job of battling and not giving up because we gave up a couple runs.”

• Hitting for history: Arraez's pursuit of .400

Since Davis made his first start on May 24 and hit in the ninth spot, Marlins batters 7-9 in the order pace the Majors with:

• 28 runs
• 47 hits
• 15 XBH
• 22 RBIs
• .379 AVG
• .455 OBP
• .548 SLG
• 1.004 OPS

Down 4-0, the bottom of the order helped Miami chip away with two runs in the third, as Joey Wendle (No. 7 batter) led off with a double and scored when Davis (No. 9) beat out a potential double play; Davis then scored from first on Arraez's double to left.

In the fourth, Nick Fortes (No. 6) started the rally with a two-out single. When Wendle bunted for a hit, the throw from Royals catcher Salvador Perez sailed into right field to put runners on the corners. Jon Berti (No. 8) tripled to right to set up Davis' go-ahead knock, and Arraez capped the outburst with an RBI single.

“It's about our game plan and our approach, and we've got some talented hitters in this clubhouse, and we have a lot of depth, I think a lot more depth than some may believe,” said Berti, who went 2-for-4 with two RBIs. “We believe in ourselves, and if we stick to our approach and our game plan that the staff puts together for us every day that we work hard on, there's no reason why we can't score a lot of runs.”

Wendle is 7-for-15 with four extra-base hits and two multi-hit games since Thursday after collecting just four extra-base hits and no multi-hit games through his first 24 games this season. Berti snapped his hitless streak at six at-bats. Davis is batting .297 since his arrival.

The Marlins (33-28) improved to five games over .500 for the first time since Aug. 27, 2016 (67-62) and are 9-3 since May 24. On Monday, they fielded a lineup without All-Star Jazz Chisholm Jr. (turf toe), Opening Day outfielder Avisaíl García (lower back spasms) and 2021 World Series MVP Jorge Soler (right thumb).

“I think we are scoring runs in different ways, and we're seeing different guys step up in critical situations,” general manager Kim Ng said on Friday. “I think we've seen more of that this year than we did last year. Guys are getting more comfortable with that. But you can never have enough I suppose.”