Marlins Erupt for Eight, Conine and Hernández Torch Pittsburgh
Miami dismantled Pittsburgh 8-2 on Wednesday, with Griffin Conine scoring three times and Heriberto Hernández going deep 415 feet to put the game out of reach. The Marlins turned a one-run deficit into a five-run lead in a single third inning, and they never looked back.
Pittsburgh grabbed the early edge in the second when a throwing error by shortstop Lopez allowed Nick Gonzales to score, making it 1-0 Pirates. But Miami answered immediately — Xavier Edwards singled to first to plate a run and knot the game at one. That was as good as it got for Pittsburgh. The third inning is where this game was decided, and it wasn't subtle. Agustin Ramirez doubled to left, scoring Conine and moving Hernández to third — the play that swung Miami's win probability from 61% to 74%, a 13-point lurch that effectively told you everything you needed to know about where this was headed. A hit-by-pitch scored Hernández, a walk scored Ramirez, and Edwards added a sacrifice fly to right to score another. Four runs in the inning, 5-1 Marlins, and Pittsburgh's night was already in damage-control mode.
The Pirates managed a brief response in the fourth — Esmerlyn Valdez hit a sacrifice fly to center to score Gonzales and trim it to 5-2 — but Conine immediately answered with a 403-foot home run to center that pushed Miami back to a four-run cushion. That solo shot was the exclamation point on a night where Conine went 2-for-2 with a homer, an RBI, and three runs scored. He was everywhere. Hernández then closed the book in the sixth with a 415-foot blast to left center that scored Conine again, making it 8-2 and rendering the final three innings a formality.
On the mound, Janson Junk was efficient and composed — 6.0 innings, 4 hits, 1 earned run, 1 walk, 2 strikeouts. That's the kind of start that wins games when your offense is doing what Miami's did tonight. Pittsburgh cycled through arms trying to stop the bleeding: Kirby Yates gave up nothing in his inning of work, but Lake Bachar absorbed the real damage, allowing 3 earned runs over 3.0 innings. The story of the night, it appears, was a Miami lineup that found its rhythm at exactly the wrong time for Pittsburgh and simply refused to stop. Conine and Hernández combined for two home runs, three RBIs, and five runs scored between them — that's a two-man wrecking crew that Pittsburgh had no answer for.