NewsMarlins fall five games back in Wild Card
Coghlan has four hits, but early hole too much to overcome
By Mark Schmetzer / Special to MLB.com
09/17/09 11:31 PM ET
CINCINNATI -- Marlins manager Fredi Gonzalez likes coming to Cincinnati. He finds it enjoyable to walk around the city and along the Ohio River.Managing baseball games has been less enjoyable. Gonzalez has never skippered a win in the Queen City since taking over as Florida's manager in 2007. The Marlins' losing streak at Great American Ball Park reached nine games with a 3-2 loss to the Reds in the first game of a four-game series on Thursday night.
"I like the city of Cincinnati, but I don't like playing the Reds," Gonzalez said. "Let me make that clear. I can't tell you why. We've got three more games. We'll see if we can't break that streak."
Rookie of the Year candidate Chris Coghlan logged four hits for the third time this season, but that wasn't enough for Florida to overcome Cincinnati's three-run first inning.
The Marlins (78-69) missed a chance to gain ground in the National League Wild Card race. They fell five games behind the Rockies and 1 1/2 games behind the Giants, both of whom were idle.
The first three batters for the Reds (68-79) all reached and scored against Florida right-hander Anibal Sanchez, who settled down to follow up with four shutout innings but still fell to 2-7.
Darnell McDonald led off Cincinnati's first with his second home run of the season. Jay Bruce later added a broken-bat bloop single to left field with the bases loaded and two outs to drop the Marlins into a 3-0 hole, which they couldn't overcome against Reds left-hander Matt Maloney, who lasted five innings to pick up his first career win.
"[The lead] held up," Gonzalez said, sounding somewhat incredulous. "You figure the way we're swinging the bats and this ballpark, it wouldn't. You've got to tip your hat to the kid. He threw 70 percent changeups. He mixed it up and kept us off balance. When you don't see that type of speed, it can throw your timing off."
Coghlan also had four hits on June 12 at Toronto and Aug. 9 at Philadelphia. His first three hits on Thursday came at the expense of Maloney (1-4), his former teammate at the University of Mississippi.
"He's not overpowering," Coghlan said. "He throws to both sides of the plate and keeps the ball down. I just tried to keep my approach and not let him dictate the at-bat and not get frustrated."
Sanchez threw 39 pitches in the first inning. He finished with 98 in five while falling to 0-3 over his past five starts and 1-7 over his past 11.
"I was just trying to hit [catcher Ronnie] Paulino in the strike zone," Sanchez said of the difference between the first inning and his last four. "I was trying to make them swing. I just wanted to pith good. I wanted to go deep into the game."
"His ball was all over the place in the first," Gonzalez said. "It was taking off everywhere, but at the end of the night, he gave us a chance to win the ballgame."
Right-handers Burke Badenhop and Tim Wood and left-hander Renyel Pinto combined to pitch three innings of shutout relief.
Coghlan led off the Florida fifth with his second double of the game and moved to third on Nick Johnson's groundout to second. Hanley Ramirez followed with an RBI single to left field, and Ramirez came all the way around to score on Dan Uggla's double to left-center field.
Mark Schmetzer is a contributor to MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
