
When the announcement was made that baseball would be played in 2020, no one would have imagined the Miami Marlins gearing up to play the Chicago Cubs in the postseason.
The Marlins came into Wednesday’s game with a heightened sense of confidence that carried them through their unprecedented season. With the help of a seventh inning rally, the Marlins boosted their postseason resume for the first time in 17 years on Wednesday as they swam past the Chicago Cubs in a 5-1 victory at Wrigley Field.
A go-ahead home run from Corey Dickerson in the top of the seventh inning gave the Marlins the energy they craved to gain their first postseason win since winning the 2003 World Series.
With momentum shifting in the North Side of Chicago, it took two batters following Dickerson’s blast to ramp up 30-year-old Jesús Aguilar as he knocked a solo home run to give Miami enough insurance runs they needed to edge the three-seeded Cubs.
“That inning was a great inning for us,” Aguilar said to describe the productive seventh inning for the Marlins. “Especially with Cody’s homer. That was like, ‘we can do it’ then after I came with the homer again … we got aggressive and we got the three runs in the moment and then we go over for five.”
Sandy Alcantara has been a strong asset for the Marlins pitching rotation. The All-Star went 6.2 innings, only allowing one run on three hits and four strikeouts. The lone run for the Cubs came off the bat of Ian Happ, who drilled a 97-mph fastball from Alcantara in the bottom of the fifth inning.
“Today [I tried to be] all the time positive,” Alcantara said. “All the time anybody knew when I was outside, you know, you guys see I get in trouble, behind the count, all the time … [but I] find a way to throw a perfect pitch, you know, to get a quick out.”
Starling Marte was taken out of the game after Dan Winker drilled a sinker up-and-in to clip Marte’s fingers in the bottom of the ninth inning. According to Joe Frisaro of MLB.com, x-rays show that Marte has a non-displaced fracture of the fifth metacarpal on his left hand. He is expected to be evaluated day-to-day.
Since being traded from the Arizona Diamondbacks to the Marlins on August 31, Marte has found his rhythm in a Miami uniform, hitting .245 with four home runs and 13 RBI through 28 games.
Sixto Sánchez is expected to take the mound for the Marlins on Thursday against Cubs right-handed pitcher and four-time All-Star Yu Darvish.
