Giancarlo Stanton hit his fourth home run of the Grapefruit League on Tuesday as the Miami Marlins beat the Houston Astros by a score of 8-1.
The Stanton home run came in the first inning and continues what has been a prolific spring for the young slugger. It was the second straight day that Stanton connected on a three run blast as well to give him 12 runs batted in this spring per the official box score. It's not just power for Stanton as he is consistently collecting hits of all kinds with a .333 batting average including two multi-hit games. Stanton's OPS is at 1.064 as well which is high even for his standards.
In all, the Marlins offense had 18 hits in what was an explosive day for the team. Jake Marisnick, Donovan Solano, Derek Dietrich and Reed Johnson all had three hit games. That quartet has one other thing in common; they are all battling for roster spots. Dietrich (4) and Johnson (3) doubled to go along with a Casey McGehee two-bagger. Not to be outdone, Dietrich also picked up his first triple of the spring.
On the mound for Miami to start the game was Jacob Turner who is likely to open the year in the rotation. Turner went five innings and allowed one run on a pair of hits to earn his second win of the spring. The right-hander also struck out three which was a positive sign as he has struggled to accumulate punch-outs. Steve Cishek continued to get himself ready for his closing duties by turning in a two inning scoreless appearance. While Cishek will rarely be asked to work multiple innings, it is important for manager Mike Redmond to know he has the stamina built up for the task if needed.
The Marlins are off on Wednesday for the only time this spring. The action will continue on Thursday when Jose Fernandez takes on the St. Louis Cardinals.
