CINCINNATI — Anthony Bender gave up a career-high four earned runs in the sixth inning and a late rally attempt once again fell short in the Miami Marlins’ 7-4 loss to the Cincinnati Reds on Saturday at Great American Ball Park.
It’s the Marlins’ sixth consecutive loss and drops them to a season-worst 22 games under .500 at 51-73. The Reds, who entered the day tied with the San Diego Padres for the National League’s second wild-card spot, are 68-57.
Bender began his MLB career by going 22 innings without giving up an earned run, the fifth-longest streak in MLB history.
Since giving up his first earned runs on June 29, however, Bender has a 6.00 ERA, allowing 16 earned runs in 24 innings.
Saturday was the worst of his outings.
The breakdown of his 18-pitch sixth inning, one that turned a 2-2 tie into a 6-2 Marlins deficit:
Jonathan India line drive single to left field, Tyler Naquin line drive double to center field, Nick Castellanos RBI groundout, Joey Votto intentional walk, Kyle Farmer five-pitch walk, Tyler Stephenson two-run line drive double to right and a Eugenio Suarez sac fly double play to right (Bryan De La Cruz doubled up Stephenson at third base).
Only eight of Bender’s 18 pitches were in the strike zone. Five of those eight were put into play. All five either resulted in a hit or drove in a run.
The Marlins cut the deficit to two runs, 6-4, in the eighth inning on a Brian Anderson RBI double and Jorge Alfaro RBI single, but De La Cruz grounded into an inning-ending double play to end the threat. Marlins batters hit into five double plays on Saturday. Miami scored its first two runs in the fifth when Jazz Chisholm Jr. was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded and Jesus Aguilar drew a bases-loaded walk.
That fifth inning negated the two runs Zach Thompson allowed on a Castellanos home run in the first, a 382-foot shot to right-center field. Thompson allowed just two baserunners after the home run as he completed five innings before turning over to the bullpen.
Bender then allowed the four runs in the sixth and the Reds added an insurance run on a Castellanos single against Sean Guenther that scored Naquin.
