Stowers Homers, Marlins Blanks Mariners as Streak Continues
· Yahoo Sports
MIAMI — Kyle Stowers homered, and the pitching staff shut the door on the opposition as the Miami Marlins blanked the Seattle Mariners 2-0 on Wednesday.
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Stowers took the first pitch he saw, an 83.4 mph knuckle curve by George Kirby, and knocked it 416 feet over the center field wall for a leadoff solo home run in the second inning. Stowers is currently batting .244 with an .801 OPS, 12 home runs, and 41 RBI, trending toward a season similar to his breakout campaign in 2025.
After breaking into the scene with 25-homers last year, Stowers started this season cold with an injury and a slow May. However, as the Marlins got hot in June, so has Stowers, who has eight homers, 28 RBI, and a .949 OPS in his last 30 games.
“I’ve been feeling good at the plate,” Stowers said during his postgame press conference. “I think I have a chance every night, which is a really good place to be.”
Otto Lopez singled in the third inning and scored on an RBI triple by Xavier Edwards, his sixth triple of the season. Lopez, who has long led the Major Leagues in hits and batting average, now has 126 hits before the MLB All-Star Break, which begins next week.
The Marlins (51-42) have gone from eight games under .500 and 14 games out of first place in the National League East entering June to now nine games over .500 and only 2.5 games behind the division-leading Atlanta Braves.
“We believe in ourselves against everyone,” Stowers said. “We think we are a really good team as well. We prepare well, and it’s always fun playing against teams that you’ve seen make deep postseason runs.”
Stowers referred to both of the Marlins' wins over the American League West leaders as “grimy wins.” While he admitted that he has never played in the postseason, he said from watching the playoffs in the past that those games are won similarly.
“The games are grimy,” Stowers said. “Innings 1-9, game’s never over. We kind of saw that yesterday. Their ability to keep knocking on the door and staying in it and our ability to respond, not fall flat, I thought, was really cool.”
The Marlins' pitching staff collectively held the Mariners (47-46) to just five hits throughout the game. Four of those hits came off Marlins starting pitcher Tyler Phillips, who struck out three batters with two walks over five shutout innings. Cade Gibson, Michael Peterson, and Pete Fairbanks combined to allow one hit with six strikeouts through four innings.
The Marlins will activate Janson Junk from the injured list and start him on Thursday against the Mariners and Bryce Miller (4-2, 1.71 ERA). The Marlins will look for their second consecutive sweep.
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