Miami Marlins’ struggles against lefty pitching continues in loss to Atlanta Braves

For the first two-plus weeks of the 2024 season, Miami Marlins hitters have had their share of opportunities to show they can hit top-end left-handed starting pitching.

So far, they have failed to do so.

The trend continued on Friday in their 8-1 loss to the Atlanta Braves to begin a three-game series at loanDepot park, as Max Fried dominated the Marlins’ lineup.

Miami falls to 2-12 on the season, including 0-8 at home. It’s just the second time in franchise history the Marlins have lost at least eight consecutive home games to begin a season. They started 0-9 at home to begin the 1995 season.

The Braves improve to 8-4.

Fried gave up just four hits (all singles) over 6 1/3 innings on Friday, with two of those coming on back-to-back one-out hits in the seventh by Jazz Chisholm Jr. and Avisail Garcia to end Fried’s night. Chisholm scored on an Emmanuel Rivera RBI single up the middle to break up the Braves’ shutout bid.

“Fried’s curveball was working really good,” Marlins manager Skip Schumaker said. “He was able to steal some early strikes and then was on the attack with the fastball up or with the change down and away. He kept going. Our timing was off. We were back and forth on the fastball often and couldn’t really sit on one pitch because he was having all of his pitches working.”

The Marlins have faced left-handed starting pitchers in eight of their first 14 games this season.

Overall, they have scored just 12 runs (10 earned runs) in 46 1/3 innings against those pitchers — good for a collective 1.94 ERA for those pitchers.

Six of those 10 earned runs came against the Pittsburgh Pirates’ Bailey Falter on March 31. If you exclude that, Miami has scored just six runs (four earned runs) in 42 1/3 innings off the other seven left-handed starting pitchers they have faced so far this year — a 0.85 combined ERA for those pitchers.

The breakdown:

▪ One earned run in 4 1/3 innings against the Pirates’ Martin Perez on March 29.

▪ Zero runs in seven innings against the Los Angeles Angels’ Tyler Anderson on April 2.

▪ Two earned runs in 5 2/3 innings against the Angels’ Patrick Sandoval on April 3.

▪ Zero runs in five innings against the St. Louis Cardinals’ Steven Matz on Saturday.

▪ Zero runs in eight innings against the New York Yankees’ Nestor Cortes on Monday.

▪ Two unearned runs in six innings against the Yankees’ Carlos Rodon on Tuesday.

And then, on Friday, Fried.

For comparison, the six right-handed starting pitchers to face Miami — the Pirates’ Mitch Keller and Jared Jones, the Angels’ Chase Silseth, the Cardinals’ Lance Lynn and Kyle Gibson, and Yankees’ Marcus Stroman — gave up 27 runs (25 earned runs) over 30 innings, which equates to a 7.50 ERA.

“It’s been some big names,” Schumaker said of the lefty starting pitchers Miami has faced. “Getting a bunch of them early on, I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like this. It feels like two every series. ... It’s kind of crazy to think about.”

The inability to produce offensively rendered any chance of winning the series opener futile.

Trevor Rogers, for his part, gave Miami a chance. He held the Braves to just two runs over five innings despite scattering eight hits to keep Miami in the game early. Rogers has pitched exactly five innings in each of his first three starts of the season.

The Braves then pounced on the Marlins’ bullpen, scoring five runs in the seventh inning against George Soriano and Andrew Nardi to put the game out of reach. Marcell Ozuna then hit a solo home run in the ninth against Matt Andriese.

And the run of lefties doesn’t stop here. The Marlins face another southpaw on Saturday in Chris Sale.

Tim Anderson gets a day off

Marlins shortstop Tim Anderson did not play in the series opener against the Braves because he was feeling sick when he woke up Friday morning, Schumaker said.

“Just thought it would be a good day to take off just in case,” Schumaker said.

Anderson started each of Miami’s first 13 games and is hitting .280 (14 for 50) with one double, one RBI and four runs scored.

Vidal Brujan started at shortstop with Anderson not in the lineup.

Braxton Garrett’s latest rehab outing

Marlins left-handed pitcher Braxton Garrett (left shoulder) on Friday threw six innings in a rehab start with the Triple A Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp. Garrett gave up four runs on six hits while striking out four and not issuing a walk. He threw 86 pitches, 59 of which were strikes.

All four runs came via a pair of third-inning home runs.

In other Marlins injury news:

▪ Right-handed pitcher Edward Cabrera (shoulder impingement) is scheduled to pitch six innings with Triple A Jacksonville on Wednesday. It will be his fourth, and most likely final, rehab start with Jacksonville.

▪ Right-handed pitcher JT Chargois (neck spasms) threw a 25-pitch bullpen recently and is scheduled for a live batting practice session on Monday.

▪ Utility player Xavier Edwards (foot infection) is still not participating in baseball activities.