Marlins end 37-inning scoreless drought, pound Pirates for 8 runs on 13 hits

In a game the Pittsburgh Pirates promoted as Christmas in July, they delivered an outcome that was as ugly as their green T-shirt giveaways.

The Pirates were in a giving mood after trading designated hitter Daniel Vogelbach to the New York Mets for right-handed reliever Colin Holderman just minutes before the first pitch.

Where the Pirates lost one of their top hitters, the Marlins ended a 37-inning scoring drought with a four-run fourth inning on the way to an 8-1 win Friday night before 22,316 at PNC Park.

The game marked the second matchup between Pirates right-hander Zach Thompson and Marlins lefty Braxton Garrett in eight days, after a 3-2 loss in 11 innings on July 14 in Miami.

The Marlins tagged Thompson, who was one of three players acquired from Miami in the Jacob Stallings trade last fall, for seven runs on nine hits and two walks in 5 1/3 innings. Led by Joey Wendle (3 for 5 with two RBIs), the Marlins had four players with multi-hit games.

Garrett, on the other hand, allowed one run on two hits and one walk while striking out seven in six innings. He got the Pirates to chase his slider for 10 swings and misses and paired it with his four-seam fastball for six called strikes.

“He executed the breaking ball and then threw the fastball right in there off it, and that’s what made him made him challenging,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said. “Once they got the lead, I thought we kind of went away from our approach and started to chase a little bit.”

With Vogelbach and his 12 home runs and team-best 34 RBIs and 40 walks gone, the Pirates started Michael Chavis at first base and had Yoshi Tsutsugo at designated hitter. Tsutsugo struck out three times to drop his batting average to .173.

The Pirates took a 1-0 lead when catcher Jason Delay led off the third inning by drilling Garrett’s 2-2 slider 354 feet down the left-field line and just inside the foul pole for his first major league home run.

It would be their only run.

The Marlins answered with a four-run fourth. After back-to-back soft-contact singles by Brian Anderson and Avisail Garcia squirted through the infield, Miguel Rojas doubled to left to tie the score.

“They were able to rally after that,” Thompson said, “which is kind of unfortunate.”

Garcia scored on a wild pitch for a 2-1 lead and Rojas on a Nick Fortes groundout to third to make it 3-1. Wendle singled to score Jesus Sanchez to give the Marlins a 4-1 advantage.

Miami knocked Thompson out in the sixth, when Fortes hit a two-run single to score Jorge Soler and Sanchez for a 6-1 lead. Lefty Dillon Peters replaced Thompson, who allowed seven runs on nine hits and two walks, but gave up a double to left by Wendle.

Ben Gamel fired it to Diego Castillo, whose relay throw got Fortes out at home, but the Marlins challenged the call and it was overturned upon review as Miami increased its lead to 7-1.

Garcia hit his seventh homer in the seventh inning to make it 8-1.

“This is a young group of players that have to learn how to, No. 1, develop and follow a plan at the major-league level on a consistent basis,” Shelton said. “I think the one thing that they really have to learn, it’s a grind every night, and you have to stay with it with every pitch.”