The Miami Marlins continued their red-hot June with a 9-8 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks on Friday night at Chase Field, stretching their season-high winning streak to five games behind a power-packed effort from Kyle Stowers and Otto Lopez.
Stowers launched a go-ahead solo homer in the sixth inning and added an RBI double earlier in the game, while Lopez doubled, homered, and drove in three runs to lead a 13-hit outburst by Miami’s surging offense.
Coming off a dominant 12-5 win over the Giants to complete a sweep Thursday, the Marlins kept their momentum rolling by erasing multiple deficits in a back-and-forth slugfest with the Diamondbacks. Miami has now won six of its last seven games and 12 games in June in which it collected at least 10 hits — most in MLB.
Jake McCarthy got Arizona going early with a walk in the third, a stolen base, and a run scored on Alek Thomas’s sacrifice fly. McCarthy then added a leadoff homer in the fifth to extend the Diamondbacks’ lead, and Thomas followed with a solo blast in the seventh. Geraldo Perdomo and Pavin Smith also chipped in with homers and an RBI single, respectively.
The Marlins responded quickly. In the fourth inning, Lopez, Agustín Ramírez, and Stowers ripped back-to-back-to-back two-out doubles off Arizona starter Merrill Kelly (7-4) to take a 2-1 lead. Lopez later connected for a solo shot, finishing with three hits to raise his torrid June numbers.
Stowers’ leadoff homer in the sixth chased Kelly, and Miami added to the lead with a two-out rally. Connor Norby singled and scored when Javier Sanoja tripled to make it 6-4.
Starter Eury Pérez allowed three runs over 4 1/3 innings, including McCarthy’s leadoff homer in the fifth, before giving way to Ronny Henriquez (4-1). Henriquez allowed a solo homer to Perdomo but limited further damage across 1 1/3 innings of work.
Heriberto Hernández also went deep for the Marlins, who lead the National League in hits (215), batting average (.268), and doubles (44) in June. Their streak of five straight games with at least 10 hits is the longest by any MLB team this season.
Arizona made things interesting in the ninth when Pavin Smith singled home a run, but the Marlins’ bullpen held on for the one-run victory.
Miami will look to make it six straight wins Saturday when right-hander Sandy Alcantara (4-8, 6.69 ERA) takes the mound against Arizona’s Brandon Pfaadt (8-5, 5.49 ERA).
