MIAMI – Marlins rookie Owen Caissie always tells himself he’s going to get the chance to face lefties, and to be ready should the opportunity present itself. He does so by training against lefty angles and breaking balls on a daily basis in the cages. Like many young hitters across the Majors, however, the scouting report usually says the likelihood of a hit with a lefty on the mound is better with a right-handed batter in the box. For a club like Miami that tries to maximize its lineup, that means overloading the order with righty bats against a southpaw. With the Marlins trailing by one in the seventh inning of Friday night’s game against the Giants at loanDepot park, the opportunity arose for Caissie. Pinch-hitter Esteury Ruiz was hit by a pitch and Javier Sanoja bunted for a hit to open the frame. Liam Hicks then tied the game with an RBI single. Instead of pinch-hitting for the left-handed-hitting Caissie, manager Clayton McCullough allowed him to face southpaw Sam Hentges. Caissie was 5-for-26 (.192) with a .545 OPS vs. lefties in just 29 career plate appearances – all this season. Caissie rewarded his skipper’s faith by lifting a go-ahead sacrifice fly to left in a 4-3 comeback victory. In a three-hit performance that fell a triple shy of the cycle and included a game-high three RBIs, the ability to come up clutch in that circumstance was what he was most proud of. “I'm always ready for the challenge, and glad to have it tonight,” Caissie said. It was Caissie who started off the scoring by lining a solo shot just over the center-field wall in the first. His second homer in as many games came on righty Landen Roupp’s cutter. After San Francisco knotted the game in the second, Miami regained the lead in the fifth, when Sanoja led off the frame with a double and moved to third on Hicks’ groundout to short. With the infield in, Caissie sent a chopper over first baseman Bryce Eldridge’s head for an RBI double.
