Who needs HRs? Fish topple LA with small ball

MIAMI -- As the Dodgers were pounding the ball out of the yard this series at a record pace, the Marlins countered the old-fashioned way -- using a group effort to string together some timely hitting.

Brian Anderson, Jorge Alfaro, Lewis Brinson and Starlin Castro each drove in three runs, and the Marlins grinded out a 13-7 win over the Dodgers on Thursday at Marlins Park. They used a 13-hit attack, which included five doubles and no homers, to set their season-high mark for runs at home. Their season-best for runs overall is 16 at Milwaukee on June 4.

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“Obviously, it took a lot of hits to get those runs,” Marlins manager Don Mattingly said. “But it’s who we are right now.”

In the Marlins’ hitters meeting on Thursday, the message was to go on the attack. They didn’t want to let starter Walker Buehler (10-3, 3.31) get to two strikes, especially after he had fanned 11 Marlins in a win on July 21 in Los Angeles.

“Walker has got a good fastball,” Brinson said. “He’s one of the best pitchers in our league, in the game. Period. We just wanted to attack. Come out of the gates swinging.”

According to Elias Sports Bureau, Thursday was the first time since July 5, 2006 at Washington that the Marlins had four players with at least three RBIs -- Miguel Cabrera had four and Dan Uggla, Josh Willingham and Wes Helms each had three.

“It’s fun,” Brinson said. “Especially against a team like that. They’re putting up runs. We know we’ve got to put up runs. We’ve got to put up good at-bats against their pitching. Their pitching is great. In all three games we faced top-notch starters. We just knew we had to come out swinging, and we did.”

Miami salvaged the series finale, after dropping the first two to the National League West-leading Dodgers. Los Angeles won the season series, 5-1.

The game lasted four hours and seven minutes, making it the longest nine-inning game since Marlins Park opened in 2012.

Ranked last in the Majors in home runs with 100, the Marlins were able to tag Buehler for five runs in four-plus innings without going deep. They needed to keep adding on, though, because the Dodgers’ explosive offense never let up, belting four home runs.

“Not a good one,” Buehler said of his start. "It's never fun to put our team in a situation like that. Put us in such a hole to start with."

Cody Bellinger blasted a three-run homer off Austin Brice in the seventh inning, his MLB-leading 40th. Max Muncy and Corey Seager each homered off Jose Quijada in the sixth, and Kyle Garlick recorded the first Dodgers’ hit in the fifth inning with a solo home run off Caleb Smith (8-6, 3.63), who gave up one run in five innings and picked up the win.

The 14 homers for the Dodgers in the series were a franchise record for a three-game series. That outburst also tied the Braves for the most by an opponent at Marlins Park this year, but Atlanta did it in 10 games.

The finale also was a rare game in which the Marlins (45-75) were able to win without hitting a home run. They are 8-43 in games they don’t go deep.

In the first two games of this series, the Marlins were outscored 24-2, but on Thursday afternoon, the offense woke up.

“We’re always going to go out and compete,” Alfaro said. “We’re always going to go out and do our best. That’s what we tried to do tonight, to go out there and keep competing. This team has the same mentality all the time. It’s never quit.”

In the opening frame, Anderson’s RBI single off Buehler gave the Marlins their first lead of the series.

But it was the six-run fifth inning that gave Miami some breathing room. The first eight hitters reached, with the inning starting off with Jon Berti being hit by a Buehler pitch for the second time in the game. Anderson delivered a two-run double, Alfaro had a run-scoring single and with the bases full, Brinson laced a two-run double to right-center.

Miami tacked on five more runs in the sixth, with Alfaro’s two-run double being the big hit.

“You’ve got to just keep swinging, keep battling,” Brinson said. “We’ve got to scratch out runs. We’ve got a big ballpark. We’ve got to scratch out runs like we did today.”