Marlins fall to Padres, extend losing streak to 12 games

MIAMI — The San Diego Padres rallied in the eighth inning to defeat the Miami Marlins 5-3 on Sunday at loanDepot park.

Jake Cronenworth led off the eighth inning with a single and scored on a two-run homer by Machado, his 23rd of the season, to tie the game for the Padres. Soon after, Jackson Merrill hit his 15th home run of 2026 to give San Diego a 4-3 lead. The Padres capped the rally with Luis Rengifo doubled and scored on a single by Luis Campusano.

The Marlins have lost 12 straight games since sweeping the Seattle Mariners on July 9 to improve to 10 games over .500 and in the National League wild card race. The have since dropped to 52-54 and are 3.5 games out of the playoffs.

The Marlins took a 2-0 lead in the second inning using patience and small ball tactics. After the Marlins led off the inning with back-to-back walks, Esteury Ruiz drove in a run on a sacrifice bunt and the second run came on a single by Graham Pauley.

The Marlins increased their lead to 3-0 in the third inning after Kyle Stowers hit his 13th home run of the season, a solo shot to right field.

Marlins starting pitcher left the game in the fifth inning after giving up an RBI double to Manny Machado, which put the Padres on the board. It was the only run given up by Junk all day and Michael Peterson ended the inning without any further damage.

Junk went 4.2 innings on the mound with one run surrendered on seven hits with six strikeouts. Maybe he should have stayed in the game a little longer, as he only threw 75 pitches.

The Marlins will host the Philadelphia Phillies for three games starting Monday, in hopes of finally putting an end to their franchise record-setting losing streak. Tyler Phillips will take the mound against his former team.