Lopez leads Marlins to 7th straight win, sweep vs. D-backs

PHOENIX – Ever heard of Marlins shortstop Otto Lopez? If not, he hopes to change that.

With the bases loaded and the Marlins trailing by one in the eighth inning, one of the Majors’ hottest hitters came to the plate looking to do damage. Like he has been doing all week, Lopez delivered.

His go-ahead two-run single was part of the Marlins’ five-run rally to extend MLB’s longest active win streak to seven in Sunday afternoon’s 6-4 comeback victory over the D-backs at Chase Field. Miami has won seven in a row for the first time since April 23-30, 2022.

The Marlins also set a franchise record with their ninth straight victory on the road and swept a trip of six-plus games for the first time. Miami, which is off on Monday, finished June with a 14-12 record for the club’s first winning record in a full month since May 2024.

“It's super, super exciting,” said Lopez, who has a 1.200 OPS during the win streak. “I'm trying to enjoy every moment. It's exciting to see what we're doing. I've been saying since earlier [that] we've got to put ourselves on the map, and right now, that's the way we feel. We feel very up, and we’ve just got to keep going.”

Let’s break down the Marlins’ seven-game win streak, which dates back to last Sunday, by the numbers.

• 7.4 runs per game (first in MLB)
• 52 runs (first)
• 77 hits (fourth)
• 28 walks (fifth)
• .294 average (tied for fourth)
• .361 on-base percentage (tied for third)
• .475 slugging percentage (sixth)
• .836 OPS (fourth)

“How we played on this road trip, how we played in this recent stretch here, particularly the last couple weeks, for me, it's been outstanding,” manager Clayton McCullough said. “We're getting, again, so many contributions offensively. I think just our at-bat quality throughout games has continued to take steps forward. Our pitching as a whole has been terrific, and I think we're defensively playing just a much cleaner brand of baseball … you have to do [that] against good teams, in particular on the road, to win. You have to play clean, and you have to win in every facet.”

• 26 two-out runs (first)
• 24 runs in the seventh inning or later (first)
• .337 average with runners in scoring position (fourth)

Trailing 2-1 in the decisive eighth, Dane Myers led off with a walk against southpaw Jalen Beeks. Connor Norby and Jesús Sánchez struck out before the left-handed-hitting Liam Hicks, who pinch-hit for Jack Winkler in the sixth, walked.

Lopez, who took Beeks deep on Saturday, kept his hitting streak alive at 10 with his go-ahead two-run single to left. Kyle Stowers, who pinch-hit for Heriberto Hernandez in the seventh but didn’t come through, knocked a bases-clearing double to right-center.

“I want to be hitting with runners on, so I think any time pinch-hitting – early in the game, late in the game, runners on base – I want the chance to help my team in that capacity,” said Stowers, who leads Miami with 43 RBIs. “So I was just happy for the opportunity both times.

“I think we take a pretty good at-bat regardless. As a team, the quality of the at-bats have been really good, and so we just kind of treat every at-bat the same.”

• 1.11 WHIP (fourth)
• .226 opponents' batting average (tied for eighth)
• 4.45 ERA (16th)

Righty Cal Quantrill gave up two runs over five innings: Jake McCarthy’s RBI triple in the second and Ketel Marte’s solo homer in the third. With a runner at second and Marte at the plate, Quantrill struck him out to end his outing in what he considered to be the game’s turning point.

“A big part of it is – I know it sounds silly – but pitching competitively,” said Quantrill, who has a 3.88 ERA in his last 10 starts. “Things aren't always going to be easy, and I think that early in the year, there were some times where we needed to swallow our pride and just survive innings and get through games where we didn't do a great job of that. I think that these last couple weeks, we've done a lot better job of that.

“Our bullpen has been pretty good all year long, but they've taken it to another level here in the last two, three weeks as well. It's never just one thing. It's always a blend of stuff. But I really do think that we've pitched to win baseball games the last two weeks, even better than we were doing earlier in the year. That, combined with some timely hitting, leads to some wins.”