The Marlins actually looked fine early, but this team has made a habit lately of building leads it can't hold, and the sportsbooks have started pricing that pattern in.
Miami was the best team in baseball from June 1 to July 9, a 26-8 stretch that had them squarely in the wild-card mix. Then the offense just stopped hitting, and Sunday's game was the same story on a loop: three runs through three innings, then nothing. San Diego's bats woke up late instead, and that's been the difference all series.
San Diego's rotation is banged up too — Joe Musgrove, Lucas Giolito, Nick Pivetta and Yu Darvish are all out — which is exactly why a bounce-back Buehler start mattered so much walking in. The Padres didn't need a gem, they needed innings, and they got enough to keep the bullpen fresh for the finish.
Down 3-1 into the eighth, San Diego finally broke through, and it wasn't a slow build — it was one four-run inning that flipped the whole afternoon.
Thirteen hits against five tells the story of a Padres lineup that kept the pressure on all day while Miami's offense went cold again exactly when it couldn't afford to. This was the Marlins' 12th straight loss, and there's no schedule relief in sight — just more nights hoping the bats that carried them in June finally show back up.