PITTSBURGH _ The Marlins want pop? The Marlins got pop.
On the strength of three solo home runs and a three-hit, two-run game from J.T. Realmuto, the Marlins beat the Pirates, 6-5, on Friday at PNC Park to snap a three-game losing streak and remind everyone they are very much in the National League wild-card race.
Robert Andino, who went on an adventure defensively in left field, collected the game-winning hit: a single to right-center in the ninth, plating Realmuto. Realmuto, Christian Yelich and Miguel Rojas all had three-hit games and went yard. Collectively, the lineup undid the damage inflicted by the Marlins' bullpen, which blew another late lead by allowing three unearned runs in the seventh inning.
Fernando Rodney, the Marlins' stand-in closer with A.J. Ramos on the disabled list, survived a shaky ninth for the save. He loaded the bases with one out, but got Andrew McCutchen to ground into a game-ending double play.
Andino, an apparent ball magnet, made his third major league start and first since 2011 in left field. He played nine games there with Triple-A New Orleans this season.
On Friday, Andino pulled up short on two soft Pittsburgh line drives that went for singles. In the sixth, he made a sliding catch to save at least one run and probably two. An inning later, he caught a fly ball in medium-depth left that went for a sacrifice fly when he made no urgent attempt to get the ball back into the infield. In the eighth, he picked up Jung Ho Kong's shot in the gap and fired to second for the out.
Yelich's seventh-inning blast was arguably the most impressive of the night from an approach perspective. It differed from most of the other homers he's hit this season, a career-high 14, in that it went to left field. He had two to left-center this year, the rest to center and right fields. This time, Yelich did what hitting coaches preach: Take what a pitcher gives you. Pirates ace Gerrit Cole gave him an outer-half fastball low in the strike zone, and Yelich just went with it _ and barreled it up enough to get it to the opposite field, several rows beyond the fence.
Right-hander Tom Koehler was steady over six innings. He threw no fewer than 12 pitches but no more than 21 pitches in a given inning. He gave up eight hits (seven singles) and walked none. The Pirates' only runs off of him came on David Freese's home run to center field in the fourth inning.
He was Friday what he has been for more than a month: the Marlins' most consistent starting pitcher.
The Marlins twice had runners tagged out at home, Realmuto for the first out of the fourth inning and Xavier Scruggs for the third out of the sixth inning. Both attempted to score from second base on singles to the corner-outfield spots, waved home by third-base coach Lenny Harris.
