The Miami Marlins beat the Milwaukee Brewers 6-4 on Monday to gain a game on one of the teams ahead of them in the playoff race.
The Brewers are now only three games ahead of the Marlins in the race for the second Wild Card spot which is currently held by the Pittsburgh Pirates. The Marlins also trail the Atlanta Braves by three games and are 4.5 games behind the Pirates.
Home runs were key for Miami in this one as three blasts left Miller Park in the first three innings of play. Marcell Ozuna (20) and Garrett Jones (14) went back-to-back in the second inning to put the Marlins on top. In the third inning, Giancarlo Stanton added his 37th home run of the season which also gave the MVP candidate 105 runs batted in.
The home run for Stanton was his 154th career blast which tied him with Dan Uggla for the most in franchise history.
Jones also doubled for the 27th time this season as part of a two-hit day for the first baseman. Jones has been in a slump and was even benched in favor of Justin Bour for a game in the last series.
Brad Penny gave the Marlins a good effort and battled out of early trouble on the way to his second win of the year. It's been a struggle thus far for Penny in his second run with the Marlins as his E.R.A sits at 5.64 even after this outing.
Penny allowed two runs on four hits in six innings of work with both runs coming in the first inning. The veteran walked three and struck out one in a 72-pitch outing. With the effort, it is possible that Penny gets another start though the return of Henderson Alvarez could change that.
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After Penny's day came to an end, the Marlins turned to Sam Dyson who tossed a perfect seventh inning. In the eighth, A.J. Ramos allowed two runs while only picking up a pair of outs which narrowed the lead to just two. Bryan Morris entered and picked up the last out of the inning.
In the ninth, Steve Cishek earned his 33rd save of the year with a 1-2-3 inning.
The Marlins will look to win their third game in a row on Tuesday when they send Tom Koehler to the mound.
