Walk-off loss spoils offensive outburst

The saying goes, “When it rains, it pours.”

That rang especially true for the Marlins in Wednesday night’s 6-5 rain-soaked walk-off loss to the Blue Jays at Sahlen Field in Buffalo, N.Y. Despite knocking a season-high four home runs, Yimi García blew the save as Miami dropped its season-high fifth straight.

García allowed back-to-back singles to open the ninth before Bo Bichette hit the game-tying two-run triple. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Teoscar Hernández were intentionally walked to load the bases with no outs. Randal Grichuk grounded into a fielder’s choice, but Joe Panik recorded the game-ending sacrifice fly.

“Mostly my command with my fastball was not working as well,” said García, who is 9-for-11 in save chances. “It's something that led to things not happening the way I wanted to happen.”

Rain has followed the Marlins on their third straight three-city trip, dating back to the shortened opener last Friday in Boston. Sunday’s game was rained out and Monday was an off-day. As a result, the club’s high-leverage arms haven’t seen game action as of late, and they showed moments of rust.

While Anthony Bass (unearned run in the seventh) had gone a week in between outings, Dylan Floro (scoreless eighth) and García hadn’t appeared in a game since last Thursday, when García also took the loss. The often-reliable relief corps entered with 2.1 WAR -- fifth highest in MLB.

“It is one of the things that I think about when a guy hadn't been out there in a while,” manager Don Mattingly said. “It's like that starter in the first inning. You never know what happens in that first inning after getting back out there after five days.”

It spoiled a rare offensive outburst -- relatively speaking -- as Corey Dickerson, Jazz Chisholm Jr., Jesús Aguilar and Starling Marte went deep. Still, the Marlins managed just five runs on the four homers and left seven on base.

The club has been scuffling at the plate, entering Wednesday having scored six total runs in their past four games. Miami is tied for the third-fewest homers in MLB (49), and its OPS (.666) is fourth lowest.

If there’s a positive to take out of Wednesday’s outcome, it’s that those key cogs in the lineup woke up. Below is a breakdown of the long homerless droughts that ended.

Dickerson's first homer since April 26
Score: Miami 1, Toronto 0 in the second inning
The pitch: 80.3 mph slider from Alek Manoah

In the 28 games between long balls, Dickerson slashed .235/.327/.306 with a .632 OPS and five extra-base hits.

Chisholm's first homer since May 18
Score: Miami 3, Toronto 1 in the third inning
The pitch: 87.6 mph changeup from Manoah

It marked Chisholm's second extra-base hit since returning from the IL on May 16. He did miss an additional week with a mild right ankle sprain. During this span, Chisholm had gone 10-for-40 with one homer, 18 strikeouts and one walk.

Aguilar's first homer since May 12
Score: Miami 4, Toronto 1 in the third inning
The pitch: 88.1 mph changeup from Manoah

All 10 of Aguilar's taters this season have come on the road. He went 17 games between homers, slashing .183/.194/.217 with two doubles, seven RBIs, one walk and 15 strikeouts.

Marte’s first homer since April 16
Score: Miami 5, Toronto 2 in the seventh inning
The pitch: 94.4 mph four-seamer from Trent Thornton

Marte, who missed 35 games with a left rib fracture, is 5-for-14 with three doubles and the homer since his return last Friday.

“Lineup's changed a few times, and we're trying to just get some consistency going, pass it back to the next guy,” Dickerson said. “We had some balls hit hard tonight. Hard-hit balls is what you want. You really can't control where they go, especially the way pitching is these days. Everybody throws so hard and spins it so well. It's about putting good swings on baseballs, and lately we've been able to do that, and, hopefully, we keep it going.”