Home|Sports|‘Jazz’, Marlins continue torrid stretchSports
Sheldon LongleySend an emailSeptember 7, 2023 72 2 minute readFacebookTwitterLinkedInShare via Email
Bahamian professional baseball player Jasrado ‘Jazz’ Chisholm Jr. and the Miami Marlins continue to roll, now in sole possession of the final wild card spot in the National League of Major League Baseball (MLB).
They blasted the National League West leading Los Angeles Dodgers, 11-4, last evening, picking up their sixth straight win and seventh in their last nine games. The Marlins have a 72-67 win/loss record, percentage points ahead of the Cincinnati Reds (73-69) and Arizona Diamondbacks (72-68) for the final wild card spot in the National League playoff race. The San Francisco Giants are two and a half games back at 70-70.
Chisholm himself has been on fire, slamming a home run for the second consecutive game on Wednesday. He had a solo upper deck shot that traveled 436 feet on Tuesday and then blasted a three-run shot to highlight a nine-run fifth inning for the Marlins on Wednesday, blowing the game open at loanDepot Park in Miami, Florida. It’s the fourth time this season and fifth time in his career that he has gone deep on consecutive days.
The Marlins will face the Dodgers again this evening, looking to complete a three-game sweep.
Batting clean-up on Wednesday, Chisholm finished 2-for-4 with the home run, three RBIs (runs batted in) and a run scored. On his home run ball, he went after the first pitch he saw from Dodgers’ starter Lance Lynn and carried it the opposite way over the left field wall. Chisholm got the barrel of the bat out front on a 91.9 miles per hour (mph) sinker and lifted it the other way for his 16th home run of the year. That shot gave the Marlins a 5-1 lead and they never looked back, going on to win comfortably.
The Marlins used five pitchers on Wednesday. Right handed pitcher Edward Cabrera hurled four innings of one hit ball and recorded the win. Lynn suffered the loss for the reeling Dodgers who have now lost five of their last six games.
Chisholm has now hit safely in six straight games and eight of his last nine. For the season, the Marlins’ center fielder is batting .260 with 16 home runs, 40 RBIs and 39 runs scored. He has 73 total hits and 19 stolen bases and is just four home runs and one steal short of what would be his first 20-20 season in his four-year career in the majors.
The Marlins poured it on in the fifth inning last night, drilling three home runs and scoring nine runs. On Tuesday, they doubled up the Dodgers, 6-3, and were in total control on Wednesday.
It doesn’t get any easier for the Marlins as they travel to Philadelphia to play the Phillies this weekend. The Phillies (77-62) is one of the teams ahead of the Marlins in the standings. That three-game set against the Phillies starts on Friday and will be played at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Following that, Chisholm and the Marlins will go to Milwaukee, Wisconsin to play the National League Central leading Milwaukee Brewers (77-62) for four games before hosting the league-leading Atlanta Braves (90-48) in three games next weekend.
In his last six games, the 25-year-old Bahamian baseball star has 11 hits and is batting .407 (11-for-27) with three home runs, nine RBIs and seven runs scored. Going into the stretch run of the season, Chisholm and the Marlins intend to remain torrid in chase of a playoff spot in the National League.
The playoff race remains tight in the National League as a number of teams are battling for wild card spots and the Marlins are right in the mix. They are looking to advance to the postseason for the second time in four years, following up on their appearance in the bubble in 2020. It would also be just the fourth time in the playoffs in their 31-year existence.