MIAMI _ The Miami Marlins' rally on Saturday began in the fourth, shortly after they went down by three runs to the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Timely hits over the next two innings gave them the lead. Quality pitching after a shaky start from Pablo Lopez made sure they held on to their advantage.
And in the end, it carried the Marlins to a 4-3 win at Marlins Park to even the three-game series. The series finale, which also concludes a nine-game homestand, begins at 1:10 p.m. Sunday.
It was a needed rebound performance for the Marlins (25-43), who were coming off an 11-0 shutout on Friday.
Garrett Cooper and Harold Ramirez paced the offense, combining for six of the Marlins' 10 hits. Cooper led off both the fourth and fifth innings with singles. He came around to score both times, first on a Ramirez single to break up the shutout and second on a Starlin Castro RBI groundout to give Miami the lead.
Brian Anderson and Ramirez also scored in the fourth as the Marlins tagged Pirates starting pitcher Dario Agrazal for six hits and three runs (two earned) in his MLB debut.
Lopez, meanwhile, leveled out after giving up three runs on five hits to the Pirates (31-39) over the third and fourth innings. The 23-year-old right-handed pitcher allowed just one hit over his final three innings on the mound while recording three of his four strikeouts in that span. The one hit he gave up _ a leadoff double to Josh Bell in the sixth _ was erased when Colin Moran hit a lineout to Castro, who quickly flipped the ball back to Miguel Rojas covering second base for a double play.
Lopez has given up just five earned runs in 25 innings over his last four starts (a 1.80 ERA) with 23 strikeouts to just four walks.
Nick Anderson and Sergio Romo each threw a scoreless inning of relief to seal the win. Romo earned the save in his first appearance since giving up four runs in the ninth inning of the Marlins' 7-6, 12-inning loss to the Atlanta Braves on Sunday.
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