Marlins hope to parlay bench-clearing dustup into momentum
The Miami Marlins might want to write Junior Lake a thank-you for inciting a bench-clearing quarrel between the Marlins and the Chicago Cubs on Wednesday.
Lake roused the benches on Wednesday when he put his finger to his mouth, shushing the Marlins' bench, as he rounded third base during his home run trot.
No injuries occurred and no punches were thrown in the scrum, but that wasn't the only good news for the Marlins that resulted from the incident.
The biggest takeaway from the occurrence is that the Marlins defended each other and were unified, which has been a rare occurrence as the Fish struggle to maintain unity as they continue to experience a rough start to the 2015 season.
"Any time you got guys out there pushing and screaming at each other it shows they care,'' Jeff Baker said. "I've never played on a team that's been in a fight that didn't care. … I liked it.''
The Marlins took the final game of their three-game series against the Cubs, 7-3, on Wednesday, winning their first consecutive games for only the 10th time this year.
With Wednesday's incident adding some logs to the fire, the Marlins hope to sustain their momentum as they head to Colorado for the three-game series that starts Friday.
A win on Friday to start the road trip, which heads to Toronto after Colorado, will be a boost for the Marlins, who haven't won more than two games in a row since the first week in May.
(h/t Sun-Sentinel)
