What was an up and down week for Miami, the Fish went into their off day finishing .500 across their six games, moving to 7-8 on the season.
The Marlins offense was held to one run across the opening two games of the series with St. Louis. They looked dormant and disinterested. Jesus Sanchez and Joey Wendle were the only guys giving consistent, quality at bats. They managed to let Sandy Alcantara’s sparkling start in game two (8IP, 4H, BB, 6K) go for nought, as Nolan Arenado broke the scoring drought with a go ahead 2-run shot in the ninth off of Anthony Bender.
Clearly needing some sort of spark, Don Mattingly shook up the lineup in game three, notably moving Jazz Chisholm Jr. to the leadoff spot. The offense produced five runs behind Pablo Lopez’s typical ace stuff, as he recorded 9Ks over seven scoreless frames. Lopez leads the MLB in starter-ERA.
Game one of three against the Braves saw Miami revert to old ways. Dropping the game 3-0, Trevor Rogers was a minor bright-spot as he went five innings without giving up a run, improving on his horrendous start five games earlier.
The Marlins finally broke through on the scoreboard in game two of the series, scoring nine runs, as hitters 1-8 in the lineup all were on base at least twice. Jazz Chisholm Jr. recorded four hits, as he was just a triple shy of the Marlins first cycle in franchise history. In the back and forth game, Garrett Cooper’s pinch-hit 2-RBI base knock in the 7th put Miami in front for good.
Jesus Luzardo’s second start of the week helped Miami to a 5-4 win. Aside from working out of some trouble in the fifth, he was almost flawless, striking out 8 across five frames, giving up just one run. After getting the save the night prior on 11 pitches, Tanner Scott was far from that version of himself in his next opportunity, surrendering 3 runs in the ninth. Louis Head came in and recorded back to back strikeouts to pick up the save. It was special to see that although spots 1-5 in the order struggled (3-22), the back 4 picked up the slack going 8-14 in this game.
Bright Spots:
Jazz Chisholm Jr.
Jazz and company finally got their wish as he jumped to the one-hole this week. Boy did he walk the walk. He slashed .294/.333/.705 with 2 homeruns and a double while leading off. He even saw his name atop the SLG% leaderboard for a night. He looks to be more comfortable than ever, and it’s incredibly fun to watch.
Louis Head
One of the few players still holding a 0.00 ERA, Head made the most of his three opportunities this week. The 32-year-old made his Major League debut last season with the Rays, and was then picked up this offseason by Miami. The guy was selling solar panels two years ago for crying out loud! Good for him!
Needs Improvement:
Anthony Bender
After blowing Sandy Alcantara’s gem on Wednesday, Bender was reported to have been feeling hip soreness. Here’s hoping Dylan Floro can come back healthy soon.
Hitting with RISP
Miami had 58 opportunities to hit with runners in scoring position over the course of their six games this week. They recorded just 11 hits in those chances for a .189 batting average. Yikes. They had eight hits in game one against St. Louis, but could only pick up one run. Even in the game that they tallied 9 runs, they only hit 4-18 with runners in scoring position. The problem is not necessarily getting guys on base, but rather to bring those runners around to score.
Hitting stats from the week:
Pitching stats from the week:
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