Nick Gordon collected two singles, a double and a home run, drove in three runs and scored twice as the Miami Marlins avoided an interleague series sweep at the hands of the host Oakland Athletics with a 12-3 triumph Sunday afternoon.
Jazz Chisholm Jr., Bryan De La Cruz, Jesus Sanchez and Christian Bethancourt also scored a pair of runs for the Marlins, who rebounded from a 20-4 shellacking by the streaking A’s one day earlier.
It was Miami’s highest-scoring game of the season, surpassing the 10 runs it scored against the St. Louis Cardinals last month.
Gordon’s homer, his fourth of the season, capped a four-run first against A’s starter Joe Boyle (2-5), who completed the inning but then left because of back soreness. Boyle set up the big inning by walking the first three batters of the game, throwing nine straight balls in one stretch.
He was charged with four runs despite allowing just one hit.
On their way to winning for the fourth time in six games, the Marlins broke the game open in the sixth. Already up 5-2, they used doubles by Gordon, Jonah Bride and Bethancourt to add a pair of runs, and Chisholm followed with a run-scoring single.
Bride finished with two RBIs and Josh Bell added a pair of run-scoring singles, including one in a four-run ninth. He was joined in the two-hit column by Chisholm and Bethancourt.
The Marlins finished with a season-high 14 hits one day after trading their top hitter, Luis Arraez, to the San Diego Padres.
The four-hit game was the first of Gordon’s career.
Reliever Burch Smith (2-0), who worked a scoreless fifth after starter Sixto Sanchez went an effective four, was credited with the win.
Sanchez allowed two runs and three hits in his four innings, leaving with a 5-2 lead. He walked three and struck out two.
Brent Rooker singled, doubled and scored twice for the A’s, who saw a season-best six-game winning streak come to an end.
–Field Level Media
