Stuck in tight WC race, Marlins piecing it together

MIAMI -- On a day the Marlins lost ace Sandy Alcantara and rookie Eury Pérez for the remainder of the season, their National League Wild Card hopes appeared to be dimming.

While Miami kept pace in the race with a go-ahead run-scoring wild pitch in the eighth inning of the Marlins’ 5-4 win over the Brewers at loanDepot park on Saturday, All-Star second baseman Luis Arraez tripped on the dugout stairs before the ninth and exited with an apparent left leg injury.

• Games remaining: vs. MIL (1), at NYM (3), at PIT (3)
• Standings update: The Marlins (80-75) remained one game back of the Cubs (81-74) for the third NL Wild Card spot, and 1 1/2 games ahead of the Reds (79-77). Miami holds the head-to-head tiebreaker over Chicago, having taken four of six in the season series. Miami tied the season series (3-3) with Cincinnati, but the Marlins (25-24 against the NL East) hold the second tiebreaker -- intradivisional record -- over the Reds (19-29 against the NL Central).

As has been the case this year, the banged-up Marlins will observe an all-hands-on-deck approach over the remaining seven games. At this point in the season, everyone is dealing with something and battling through it.

Jake Burger, who left Wednesday night’s game vs. the Mets with right quad tightness, hit a three-run homer in the first inning against Brandon Woodruff and led off the eighth with a walk vs. righty Joel Payamps. Garrett Hampson pinch-ran for him, then advanced to third on Bryan De La Cruz’s single to right. With the infield drawn in, Jesús Sánchez struck out. But then, as Jon Berti faced an 0-2 count, Payamps yanked a slider as Hampson raced home.

“That's the thought process,” Burger said of playing through the pain. “Growing up playing hockey, that's kind of the mindset you have going forward. And obviously with my injury history, I know what the sport is like to be taken away from you. If my leg's not cut off, it's not going to get me out of the game.”

The absence of Alcantara and Pérez puts added pressure on an already-strained pitching staff, leaving Miami with Jesús Luzardo, Braxton Garrett and Edward Cabrera as its only healthy starters. Both Luzardo and Garrett have far surpassed their previous career highs for innings, while Cabrera was recently reinserted into the rotation after being demoted to a relief role. Johnny Cueto is an option to start, but he was placed in the bullpen earlier in the week because of his lack of production.

On Saturday, Luzardo set the tone with a solid outing, but shaky defense and a game-tying three-run homer by Carlos Santana off reliever A.J. Puk skewed his final line (5+ IP, 3 ER).

“Not necessarily doing more, just trying to go as long as possible,” said Luzardo, who has made a career-high 31 starts this season. “I would love to go out there if I had 130 pitches every day. My arm feels great, and I'm good for it. But at the end of the day, it's up to [manager] Skip [Schumaker], and we always respect his decision. But as a starter, I know me, Brax, Cueto, whoever it is -- Cabrera -- we all want to go as long as possible. And especially with the bullpen hurting as much as they've been used lately, we want to try to take that load off their shoulders.”

Miami will continue piecemealing its pitching staff, something it has done since implementing a six-man rotation featuring two openers on Aug. 27.

“I didn't feel like we'd have this many kind of openers and the bullpen days and stuff, but again, we're not the only team that's going through this type of thing,” Schumaker said. “Other teams have injuries, and they have to piece it together as well. And I think, honestly, in the postseason, you'll see some teams that are still going through this. I think that's just the reality of the situation we're in. Offense is going to have to pick us up. They picked us up today.

“And I think the bullpen guys are going to be in different roles that they're not used to. But again, you ask anybody in that clubhouse -- that's why I'm so proud of this team, no matter what happens -- whatever it takes. I know other guys say that at times, but they literally believe that. You see guys playing different positions, different roles and bullpens, and you don't hear a peep, and it's pretty cool.”