The Sports Xchange
Sep 24, 2017
Giancarlo Stanton hit his 57th home run to lead the Miami Marlins to a 12-6 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks on Saturday night in Phoenix.
The Marlins slugger went 3-for-6 and was a triple shy of the cycle. Stanton drove in four runs and became Miami's single-season RBI leader with 124, breaking the previous mark of 120 set by Preston Wilson in 2000.
Justin Bour homered for the fourth consecutive game as his two-run, opposite-field shot in the eighth gave Miami an 11-6 lead. Bour's shot bounced off the left-field foul pole for his 25th of the season.
Miami (73-81) took the lead for good with a five-run third inning and withstood home runs from Arizona's J.D. Martinez and Paul Goldschmidt. Martinez now has 43 homers and Goldschmidt connected for the 36th time this season.
The loss kept Arizona (89-66) within one game of clinching a wild card berth.
Brian Ellington (1-1) pitched two innings of relief for the win. Ellington struck out three around Martinez's solo home run.
Neither starter reached the fifth inning. Arizona's Taijuan Walker (9-9) allowed six runs and six hits, walked three and struck out six in 3 2/3 innings.
Despite enjoying four- and three-run leads, Miami's Dillon Peters was lifted for a pinch hitter after four innings. Peters surrendered five runs and six hits, walked three and struck out one.
Martinez's solo homer off Ellington in the fifth pulled Arizona within 7-6. Stanton leaped and attempted to catch Martinez's opposite-field shot before it landed over the wall in right-center field.
Stanton's solo homer and Justin Bour's RBI single in the fourth gave Miami a 7-4 lead.
Bour's single to shallow center scored Christian Yelich from second. Yelich originally was called out on second baseman Brandon Drury's throw to catcher Chris Ianetta. But Miami challenged the play and a video review overturned the call.
The Marlins erased a 1-0 deficit with a five-run third, keyed by Stanton's two-run double and a fielding error by Walker off Dee Gordon's short dribbler that scored Miguel Rojas from third. Bour drove in a run with a single and Brian Anderson's sacrifice fly to deep center scored Miami's fifth run of the inning.
Goldschmidt's three-run homer off Peters in the bottom of the inning cut the deficit to 5-4.
Drury's home run to lead off the second gave the Diamondbacks a 1-0 lead. Drury drove Peters' pitch above the wall in right-center for his 13th home run.
NOTES: Marlins 2B Dee Gordon favored his right leg as he attempted to beat out a grounder in the fourth. Although Gordon limped on his way to the dugout, he remained in the game. ... Marlins 3B Martin Prado, sidelined since mid-July because of a right knee injury that required arthroscopic surgery, is traveling with the team on its road trip to Arizona and Colorado. Prado took batting practice before Saturday's game and is targeting possible pinch-hit opportunities the final week of the season. ... Diamondbacks OF J.D. Martinez has 27 home runs since July 19, second behind Stanton. Martinez also drove in his 28th run of the month. ... Saturday's crowd of 39,259 at Chase Field pushed the Diamondbacks over two million in home attendance for the season. Arizona has never drawn less than two million at home in the club's 19-year history.