It didn’t come as easy, but the Miami Marlins finished off an 11-5 win over Team Israel on Wednesday.
Miami trailed 4-1 in the fourth inning, and was struggling in all aspects of the game. The Marlins wasted a bases loaded, no outs situation in the first inning. Following that unproductive inning, Miami became sloppy in the field and lost focus against an international team that could just surpass some people in the World Baseball Classic.
This spring has been a story of very little offense for the Marlins, but that changed in this game in the latter innings. Miami put together 11 runs on 13 hits, after trailing in both of those departments earlier in the game. The Marlins ended 6-15 with runners in scoring position, one of their stronger tallies thus far.
Jon Berti was the big story for Miami’s offense, with a 3-3 night at the plate. Berti also scored a pair of runs, and surprisingly didn’t steal a base in this game. Berti has been running wild in the Grapefruit League, under Major League Baseball’s new rules. Those rules however, were not in effect for this contest and will also not be used in the WBC.
Miami had seven doubles in the win, with Berti, Avisail Garcia, Jacob Stallings, Jazz Chisholm Jr. Jordan Groshans, C.J. Hinojosa and Nasim Nunez each picking up one. Numbers compiled in this game, do not count towards the Grapefruit League statistics.
Former Marlins Richard Bleier and Jake Fishman had mixed days for Israel. Bleier hurled a scoreless inning of relief, while Fishman gave up three runs in one inning of work. Fishman was charged with a blown save, while Bubby Rossman was tagged with the loss. Huasscar Brazoban got the win, with his perfect inning of relief work. The right-hander struck out a pair, and remains a likely option for a bullpen role on Opening Day.
Miami’s Grapefruit League schedule will resume on Friday when it visits the Washington Nationals. Jesus Luzardo will get the ball for the Marlins, when the game gets underway at 6:05 P.M.