Plenty of fly-ball outs lead to one run scoring, but three? That’s a little different. That’s what the Miami Marlins pulled off in the fifth inning Friday against the Pittsburgh Pirates, though:
A routine Sacrifice Fly turns into 3 runs for the @Marlins as the ball gets thrown into center field! #JuntosMiami #JustGettinStarted #MLB pic.twitter.com/via3fYIwra
— Bally Sports Florida & Bally Sports Sun (@BallySportsFL) April 14, 2018
While Starlin Castro’s fly to right was easily caught by Gregory Polanco, his throw home to try and nab Dillon Peters was well off line. That caused catcher Elias Diaz to come out from behind the plate to grab it, and Diaz then tried to make a play at second, but his throw missed badly and went way, way out into center field. And center fielder Starling Marte wasn’t backing up the base, probably because he went over to right on the fly to cover in case Polanco missed it. So this led to Peters scoring from third, Derek Dietrich scoring from second, and Miguel Rojas scoring all the way from first.
That’s not great defense, Pirates! Diaz was charged with an error on the play, which seems fair thanks to his errant throw, but the poor throw home from Polanco didn’t help, and neither did Marte not returning after Polanco’s catch to cover a potential throw to second. And Pittsburgh will need to improve there if they do really want to keep up their hopes of contending in the wild-card race. They gave us a funny blooper, though, and that’s something.
[Fox Sports Florida on Twitter]
