SAN DIEGO _ Not even a swarm of bees could get Trevor Richards off his game on Sunday.
Despite having to endure a 28-minute delay in the third inning while an exterminator removed bees from a microphone attached to netting behind home plate, Richards had one of his best starts of the season while getting plenty of support from his offense to lead the Miami Marlins to an 9-3 series-clinching victory over the San Diego Padres at Petco Park. The Marlins (21-36) won the second game of the series 9-3 on Saturday after dropping the opener 5-2 on Friday. Miami has also now won four of its last five series and 11 of its last 16 games.
Richards, who won his first game away from Marlins Park this season, struck out a career-high eight batters and allowed just three baserunners over his five innings on the mound. The only hit he surrendered was on an Austin Allen third-inning bunt single while the Marlins were in the shift. His changeup, one of the best in MLB, was immensely effective, with 30 of the 37 going for strikes. Seven of his eight strikeouts ended with changeups.
"It's a different change than most people have," Marlins manager Don Mattingly said pregame. "You can look at it on tape. You can know his frequency of using it, but until you see it, it's a different pitch. You have to game plan for it. It just makes everything else better."
Richards' only problem in the win was a high pitch count. He threw 98 pitches against 18 batters, with the Padres (30-29) fouling off 37 of those pitches to extend at-bats.
Meanwhile, the offense gave Richards more than enough support and the bullpen closed out the final four innings to secure the series victory.
Catcher Jorge Alfaro recorded a career-high four RBI on a two-run home run in the second _ his team-leading ninth of the year _ and a two-run double in the fourth. Outfielder Garrett Cooper homered in the third, giving the Marlins their third multi-home run outing over the last 16 games and 19 total home runs in that span.
Harold Ramirez had three hits _ his third in 17 MLB games _ and drove in a pair of runs to bring his season average up to .379. Brian Anderson also had three hits, with his last coming in the ninth against Ty France, who started the game at third base. Martin Prado and Alfaro also had multihit games, while Starlin Castro drove in a pair of runs. Cooper and Prado each scored twice.
Wei-Yin Chen (two innings), Jarlin Garcia (one inning) and Jeff Brigham (one inning) threw the final four innings to secure the win.
The Padres avoided the shutout with a Hunter Renfroe solo home run off Chen in the seventh. Renfroe hit a second home run with two outs in in the ninth off Jeff Brigham.
