Marlins belt home runs late to beat Astros. Takeaways from the win

Of the three Miami Marlins players who put themselves in rarefied air in franchise history Monday, of course it was Luis Arraez who called his shot.

Arraez had gone 0 for 3 with a strikeout in his first three at-bats against Framber Valdez before stepping into the batter’s box in the eighth inning for a fourth chance against the Houston Astros’ starter. Before that at-bat, though, he had told Marlins hitting coach Brant Brown and bench coach Luis Urueta — plus Astros second baseman Jose Altuve — that he was going to hit a home run if he got the right pitch.

Sure enough, Valdez threw Arraez a middle-in sinker. Arraez sent it 367 feet and into the right-field seats.

Arraez was the second of three Marlins players to hit home runs in consecutive plate appearances in the eighth inning of Miami’s 5-1 win over the Houston Astros to begin a three-game series at loanDepot park. Jorge Soler preceded and Josh Bell followed Arraez with their homers, making the trio just the second group in Marlins franchise history to hit back-to-back-to-back home runs.

The others: Derrek Lee, Cliff Floyd and Kevin Orie in the ninth inning on Aug. 26, 1998 at the St. Louis Cardinals.

“It starts with a spark,” said Bell, who turned 31 on Monday. “Soler, like he has done time and time again since I’ve been here, started it for us. Arraez called it in the dugout, by the bat rack, saying ‘I’m going to hit a homer right here.’ We’re like ‘No, you don’t have to,’ and he’s like ‘No, I’m gonna homer.’ He hits it and I’m like ‘Oh my gosh.’ Multiple people heard it. And then after that, I got a pitch up in the zone that I can handle and was fortunate to put a good swing on it.”

The three consecutive home runs gave the Marlins (63-57) a late cushion as they went on to win their third consecutive game and fifth game in six tries overall since snapping a five-game losing streak that prompted a players-only meeting in Cincinnati.

“When you can change the score with one swing, that’s a big deal,” Marlins manager Skip Schumaker said. “Although we don’t preach [focusing on home runs], it’s nice to have that in your lineup.”

Here are three takeaways from the game.

Marlins continue to find ways to win behind Braxton Garrett

The Marlins are now 18-5 this season in Braxton Garrett’s 23 starts.

And the 26-year-old left-handed pitcher did his part Monday to contribute to Miami’s latest win with him on the mound.

Garrett threw five shutout innings against the Astros (68-52), holding them to four hits and two walks. He worked around a bases-loaded, one-out jam in the second inning by striking out Jake Meyers and getting Martin Maldonado to pop out. That started a run of 10 consecutive Houston batters retired before Garrett walked Maldonado and gave up a single to Jose Altuve to put two on with two outs in the fifth. Both were stranded when Kyle Tucker grounded out on Garrett’s 75th and final pitch.

Over his last four starts, Garrett has pitched to a 2.05 ERA (five earned runs allowed over 22 innings). Miami has won all four of those games.

After Garrett exited, the Marlins’ bullpen of Andrew Nardi, Jorge Lopez, Tanner Scott and David Robertson held the Astros to just one run over the final four innings.

Jon Berti makes impact with bat, on the base paths

Shortstop Jon Berti was involved in both of the Marlins’ runs in the third inning. His double to left-center field scored Nick Fortes, who doubled one at-bat earlier, to give Miami an early 1-0 lead.

The speedster then stole third for his 13th stolen base of the season and scored on a passed ball to put the Marlins up 2-0.

That was all the damage Miami was able to against Astros starting pitcher Framber Valdez until the eighth inning, when Soler and Arraez hit back-to-back, two-out home runs to push the Marlins’ lead to 4-1 and chase Valdez from the game. Bell then tacked the third home run of the inning against Hector Neris.

Bell extends his on-base streak

With a seventh-inning single and ninth-inning home run, Bell has safely reached base in each of his first 12 games with the Marlins since being acquired at the Aug. 1 trade deadline from the Cleveland Guardians.

According to the Elias Sports Bureau, it’s the the second longest streak by a Marlins’ midseason acquisition to begin his tenure with the franchise. Gary Sheffield has the current record, safely reaching base in his first 13 games with the Marlins in 1993.

In 12 games with the Marlins, Bell is hitting .326 (15 for 46) with five home runs, two doubles, 10 RBI and 10 runs scored. Bell’s five home runs since Aug. 2 (when he made his Marlins debut) are tied for the second-most in MLB behind only the Atlanta Braves’ Matt Olson (seven).