In a game with zero playoff implications, all the Marlins could hope to do was wind down the 2021 season playing strong baseball.
But for the 7-plus innings of this third of four games against the New York Mets, this narrative was headed in a different direction.
New York starter Taijuan Walker - whose 7.74 ERA ranks third-worst among pitchers with at least 40 innings pitched since the All-Star Break, a stretch in which Walker has allowed 49 ER in 57 IP - shutout Miami through the first 7.1 innings pitched, striking out 5 while allowing just 2 hits.