A significant reason Anibal Sanchez was able to beat the Marlins in salary arbitration during the winter was because he was able to show that his 8-9 record last season was partly the result of lousy run support.
Arbitrators agreed and awarded Sanchez $8 million.
Sanchez is richer, but the runs remain scarce for him.
On Monday, Miami produced only two as the Marlins and Sanchez went down in a 3-2 defeat to the Pittsburgh Pirates.
“He threw good enough to win the game,’’ manager Ozzie Guillen said. “He gave us a chance to win. Too bad we didn’t score for him.’’
For Sanchez, it’s the same old story.
Going back to last season, Sanchez has allowed three runs or fewer in each of his past 15 starts. Yet he only has four wins to show for those performances.
In his five most recent starts this season, the Marlins have scored just 13 runs total for Sanchez, and never more than three in any one of those outings. And the margin of victory in each of Sanchez’s past six starts has been exactly one run.
“What can I do? Just continue to pitch good,’’ Sanchez said. “I don’t have a problem because they [Marlins hitters] want to make some runs.’’
The Marlins’ offense didn’t amount to much against a potentially vulnerable Brad Lincoln, who was making his first start after spending the first six weeks in the Pirates’ bullpen. He held the Marlins to four hits through six innings to improve his lifetime record as a starter to 4-7.
Hanley Ramirez crushed a first-inning home run and Emilio Bonifacio singled in a run in the fourth, but that was as much damage as the Marlins could inflict on the right-hander.
The Marlins had only one other scoring chance after the fourth when they put runners on the corners with one out in the eighth. But Logan Morrison struck out swinging and Giancarlo Stanton â€" Sunday’s ninth-inning hero â€" popped weakly to second to end the threat.
Meanwhile, the Pirates squeezed out just enough to get past Sanchez.
And it was a familiar nemesis, Rod Barajas, who inflicted one of the biggest wounds. Barajas brought a .162 average into Monday’s contest.
But Barajas is the unsuspecting sort â€" much like Matt Diaz â€" who has been a constant thorn to the Marlins.
A journeyman catcher with a .236 career average, Barajas has hurt the Marlins through the years to the tune of a .310 average. And he has been especially difficult on Sanchez.
The Pirates catcher homered, doubled and struck out in his three at-bats facing Sanchez on Monday, giving him five hits, four of them for extra bases, in 10 career at-bats against the Marlins right-hander.
“I leave the ball in the [middle of the plate] and I paid for it,’’ Sanchez said of the home run pitch. “I made a mistake.’’
After the Pirates had scored in the first, which the Marlins promptly answered in the bottom of that inning on Ramirez’s seventh home run, Barajas deposited a home run in the Marlins’ bullpen to put the Pirates back on top.
The Marlins tied it again in the fourth after Morrison opened the inning with a double and scored on Bonifacio’s two-out single. But the Pirates gained the lead for good in the sixth on Pedro Alvarez’s double, which scored Andrew McCutchen from first.
• The Marlins optioned outfielder Kevin Mattison to Triple A New Orleans following Monday’s game. They are expected to recall outfielder Bryan Petersen from Triple A in time for Tuesday’s game against the Pirates.
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