As the Los Angeles Dodgers' front office continued toward a blockbuster deal, the team on the field handled its business against the Miami Marlins Friday night in an 11-4 thrashing at home.
Miami starter and former Dodgers prospect Nate Eovaldi was beat up by his old team, especially by Andre Ethier, who went went 4-for-4 with 4 RBIs. Hanley Ramirez and Juan Rivera also went deep off the rookie, who gave up 6 earned in only 3 innings.
First baseman James Loney was pulled from the lineup in anticipation of a trade to Boston that would reportedly yield Adrian Gonzalez, Carl Crawford, Josh Beckett and other big names, potentially setting up the Dodgers (68-58) as the team to beat in the NL. They currently trail the Giants by three games in the NL West and the Cardinals by 1 1/2 games in the Wild Card.
However, the immediate future isn't as bright for the last-place Marlins (57-70), who took an early 2-0 lead on Jose Reyes' 10th homer in the first, a two-run shot off Dodgers starter Chad Billingsley. The Dodgers took a 3-2 lead in the bottom half on Ethier's three-run blast in the third after a Mark Ellis single and a Matt Kemp walk.
Miami tied it in the 2nd before Rivera's homer in the bottom half gave the Dodgers the lead for good. Los Angeles added two in the 3rd inning and five in the 7th.
Read more on the Marlins at Fish Stripes and SB Nation Tampa Bay. Head over to True Blue LA and SB Nation Los Angeles for more on the Dodgers. Baseball Nation is your source for news and analysis around Major League Baseball.