CINCINNATI _ Chris Johnson's lazy fly ball that helped the Miami Marlins beat the Cincinnati Reds, 6-3, on Monday would have been an out in some ballparks and maybe a double in a bunch of others. But at Great American Ball Park _ where the walls are just 325 feet away down the lines _ it landed just over the fence for a home run.
It was the sort of long pop up, flicked the other way on a 1-0 sinker that didn't sink, that Johnson watched for just a beat before getting out of the batter's box, not to admire but to make sure it would stay fair. It carried and carried until a couple of Marlins relievers, sitting in the visitors' bullpen with a better view than anyone, raised their arms in triumph.
Johnson went 2 for 3 and drove in one-third of his team's runs, enough of a cushion for the shaky Marlins bullpen to survive a series of Cincy threats. He paired his long ball with a poetic unidentical twin: a ball hit much farther and much harder, but good only for an RBI double as it bounced off the wall in center field, 400 feet from home plate.
The 3 2/3 innings Miami got out of its bullpen was an exercise in bending but not breaking. Six relievers combined to allow three hits and four walks _ but just a lone unearned run.
Right-hander David Phelps, meanwhile, continued his smooth transition into the rotation. He allowed two runs on four hits and a walk in 5 1/3 innings, striking out eight. He threw 90 pitches and exited after a single from Ivan De Jesus Jr.
De Jesus later scored after Brian Ellington (two walks, one out) and Hunter Cervenka (one walk, no outs) teamed up to force in a run.
Through three starts, Phelps has been able to maintain the velocity that helped make him so effective out of relief this season. His fastball played up out of the bullpen, coming in at an average of more than 95 mph in 2016 as opposed to the mostly 90-91 mph in past seasons, a common occurrence when a pitcher knows he can air it out for an inning as opposed to saving strength for a longer outing.
But while getting stretched out this month, Phelps still has been able to reach 95 regularly. That included Monday, when he struck out the side and even touched 96 in the first inning.
A pair of other quick-strike runs gave the Marlins some breathing room. In the first inning, Martin Prado's 12-pitch at-bat ended with a single to score Dee Gordon (double). And in the sixth, newly installed cleanup hitter Marcell Ozuna sent a home run _ his 20th of the year _ to right-center.
Gordon beat out a bases-loaded bouncer to first base in the eighth inning. Miguel Rojas and Adeiny Hechavarria scored on the plate.
Home-plate umpire Bill Welke ejected manager Don Mattingly in the bottom of the third. The Reds' Tucker Barnhart checked his swing on a ball just outside, a call Mattingly disagreed with enough to get vocal about.
