Nathan Eovaldi made his final start of the spring on Wednesday and looked good until things fell apart in the seventh inning. The Atlanta Braves took the game by a final score of 9-2.
Eovaldi who is set to start the second game of the year for the Miami Marlins went six-plus innings in which he allowed four runs on six hits. Eovaldi also struck out five and walked one per the official box score. Tagged with the loss in this one, Eovaldi ends the spring with a 1-2 record and a 3.44 E.R.A. The right-hander finishes the Grapefruit League with 16 strikeouts in 18.1 innings pitched.
Carlos Marmol came in during the seventh when Eovaldi could not record an out and had his own struggles. In all, Marmol walked one, and surrendered a pair of runs on four hits in one inning. It was an ugly outing for the volatile reliever but he had looked good in previous appearances this spring. Mike Dunn was the third and final pitcher for Miami in this one and he continued the trend of poor pitching. Dunn allowed two earned runs in his one inning on the mound.
It was a game of doubles for the Marlins despite only scoring two runs. The team had ten hits total and half of them were of the two-base variety. Reed Johnson (5), Ed Lucas (1), Matt Angle (1) and Jeff Baker (3) picked up the doubles. Baker had two along with a run scored to improve on what has been a relatively slow spring for the veteran. It wasn't all positive news for the offense however as Marcell Ozuna's struggles continued with a 0-5 day including two strikeouts.
The Marlins will take on the St. Louis Cardinals one more time on Thursday with Brad Hand scheduled to start.
