Marlins Let One Slip Away In San Francisco
POSTED: 8:35 pm EDT August 21,
2008
San Francisco, CA -- (Sports Network) - Marlins reliever Kevin Gregg's wild pitch in bottom of the ninth inning scored Emmanuel Burriss to send San Francisco past Florida, 4-3, in the finale of a three-game series.Gregg (6-6) walked Burriss with one out, and the speedster stole second with Randy Winn at the plate. Winn's fly ball to left moved Burriss to third then pinch-hitter Bengie Molina was walked intentionally. With Fred Lewis settling in, Gregg uncorked a pitch which completely eluded catcher John Baker allowing the winning run to score. "It was a slider," Gregg said. "I threw it in the dirt and it bounced far enough away to let (Burriss) score. The problem with that inning was the walk. You give them a free ride and he gets the opportunity to use that speed to his advantage." Aaron Rowand, Eugenio Velez and Ryan Rohlinger knocked in runs for the Giants, who took two of three in the set and have won four of five overall. Brian Wilson (2-2) got the win after hurling a scoreless ninth. Starter Matt Palmer allowed six hits and two runs over six innings. "Those guys are trying their best to push us under the rug," Burriss said of the Marlins, who are vying for a playoff berth. "When we have a series against a team that's a couple games out of a pennant race, it shows everybody that we're a good enough team to beat those teams." Dan Uggla homered for the Marlins, who have dropped three of four. Luis Gonzalez and Josh Willingham added an RBI in the loss. Florida's Josh Johnson yielded nine hits and three runs over six full frames. Uggla led off the second with his 27th home run of the season, and Johnson worked out of a bases-loaded jam in the home third to keep the Giants off the board. Back-to-back walks to Mike Jacobs and Uggla in the fourth led to Florida's second run, when Willingham doubled. Uggla, however, was thrown out at the plate trying to score from first. The Giants countered with a pair in the bottom of the frame on a Velez RBI single and Rohlinger's triple to dead center. The Marlins put two men on with one out in the fifth but came up empty as Jorge Cantu hit into an inning-ending, 1-6-3 double play. Winn led off the San Francisco fifth with a base hit then scored on Rowand's two-out single to give the home team a 3-2 lead. Florida tied the game in the seventh as Cody Ross doubled to lead off and scored on a Gonzalez pinch-hit sacrifice fly, then missed a golden chance to go ahead in the eighth but came up empty despite loading the bases. Game Notes Each team won three games in the season series...San Francisco has won three of the last four games against Florida at home...Each side used five pitchers in the contest.
Copyright 2008 Courtesy of The Sports Network.







