The game played out like a quiet grind for a long stretch, with both lineups mostly getting shut down before it cracked open late. Neither offense did much through the middle innings, and the final line ended up looking a lot different than the first six frames suggested.
That two-run 8th for Boston was the whole ballgame. Miami got a run back in the 7th to make it interesting, but couldn't find another one when it counted, and a bullpen that's been bleeding healthy arms all month didn't have the answer late. Both teams finished with 9 hits — this wasn't a laugher, it was a game decided by a handful of at-bats.
The bigger story for Miami might be what's coming, not what just happened. Word broke the same day that reliever Andrew Nardi is headed for season-ending surgery, which thins out an already-taxed bullpen right as the Marlins try to squeeze into the wild-card picture. Boston, meanwhile, just keeps finding ways to win close ones, and getting healthy pieces back at short and second could make these games less nerve-wracking down the stretch.