Marlins 3, Dodgers 2: Dodgers drop the first game of a series again

Don Mattingly‘s return to Dodger Stadium was unfortunately a happy one for him and the Marlins, as they prevailed over the Dodgers by a 3-2 score. Despite being 12-8 and winning six of seven series this season, the Dodgers have now managed to lose five of the seven series openers in 2016. Yikes.

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Marlins starter Wei-Yin Chen generally handled the Dodgers offense through three innings, allowing just two harmless singles and striking out two. However, the in the fourth he ran into trouble when Yasiel Puig and Trayce Thompson both blasted solo homers.

Ross Stripling turned in a decent start, allowing only three runs to the Marlins in the 5 1/3 innings of work. However, he labored through those innings on 107 pitches, allowing eight hits and three walks.

Fighting his fine command the whole way, Stripling was burned twice by Stanton, though in different contexts. In the fourth, he gave up a no-doubt homer to Stanton into left, though unfortunately it wasn’t nearly out of the stadium like that other time.

Holy crap, the Marlins announcers are terrible.

Anyway, in the fifth, Stripling retired the first two batters, but then allowed a single. With Stanton up, he not only got squeezed on a 1-2 pitch but on the next pitch Yasmani Grandal was unable to handle a pop foul down the first-base line. Of course, Stanton then proceeded to line a double to right center that scored the second run for the Marlins.

The final blow to Stripling wasn’t dealt by Stanton but by Derek Dietrich, who followed a single to start the sixth by tripling past Puig. Stripling then retired the next man, but J.P. Howell was entrusted to escape the jam and he managed to do so without any further damage being done. Louis Coleman, Adam Liberatore, and Joe Blanton then combined for three shutout innings. As a whole, the Dodgers pen continued their solid non-Coors Field run, striking out three over a perfect 3.2 innings.

On the other side of the ball, the Dodgers offense was shutout after their fourth inning explosion. They managed three singles and two walks in the final five frames, but couldn’t string enough baserunners together to really threaten even a one-run lead.

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The Dodgers play the Marlins again tomorrow, starting at 7:10 PM PST/10:10 PM EST with Clayton Kershaw (2-0, 1.50 ERA) going up against Tom Koehler (1-2, 4.80 ERA).

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Notes

–A.J. Ellis, Grandal, and Adrian Gonzalez should have a race.

–Joc Pederson‘s OPS is quietly .891 on the year, which is third on the team, but hey.