Offense goes cold again, bullpen implodes and Marlins drop first home series to Braves
The Miami Marlins’ first home series of the 2020 season started about as well as they could have hoped. Offensive production. Quality pitching. Big plays on defense. The result: An 8-2 win over the Atlanta Braves on Friday.
The strong starting pitching continued through the remaining two games of the series. The same couldn’t be said about the offense and bullpen, and that cost the Marlins the chance to take a series from the two-time defending National League East champions.
Miami recorded just eight total hits on Saturday and Sunday, including two in its 4-0 loss in Sunday’s finale. The Marlins lost 2-1 on Saturday as well, with both Atlanta runs coming on a pair of home runs. The bullpen gave up five of the six runs in the final two games, including all four on Sunday.
Despite dropping the final two games of the series, the Marlins (9-6, .600 win percentage) still hold a lead over the Braves (13-10, .565) in the NL East standings. No other team in the division has a record above .500 through Sunday’s games. Miami continues its seven-game homestand with a four-game series against the New York Mets starting Monday.
Nick Markakis drove in three runs for Atlanta, opening scoring with an RBI single off Nick Vincent that scored Dansby Swanson and a two-run double in the seventh off Brian Moran.
The Marlins, meanwhile, managed just three baserunners on Sunday, two of whom were erased on inning-ending double plays.
Another strong start for Elieser Hernandez
The bullpen’s implosion and offense falling flat wasted another strong start from Elieser Hernandez, who tossed five scoreless innings and tied a career high with nine strikeouts. He scattered three hits and didn’t allow a walk.
“Any time you’re not able to do anything with a good start, it’s frustrating,” Marlins manager Don Mattingly said. “... He did his job. He gave us a chance to put runs on the board, to do something. Sometimes, that doesn’t happen.”
Through three starts, Hernandez has a 1.84 ERA with 19 strikeouts against just two walks over 14 2/3 innings this season.
“It’s just about minimizing my mistakes,” Hernandez said through an interpreter. “Throw the ball in the zone and try not to walk guys. Attack the strike zone. It’s been helping me a lot.”
It was the third consecutive strong start from a Marlins starting pitcher in the series.
Pablo Lopez began the series by holding the Braves to two earned runs over six innings, striking out eight and not surrendering a walk to earn his second win of the season. Daniel Castano, in just his second career MLB start, also sent six innings and gave up just one run in a no-decision.
Mattingly ejected
Mattingly was ejected in the fifth inning for arguing balls and strikes during Hernandez’s fifth-inning at-bat with the Braves’ Tyler Flowers.
The Marlins have dealt with the same umpiring crew — James Hoye, Roberto Ortiz, Mike Estabrook and Mark Carlson —for the last three series and Mattingly has expressed some complaints about the strike zone over the past week.
It boiled over Sunday, with Mattingly being tossed and spending about a minute jawing with home plate umpire Hoye with some profanity mixed in to the rant.
“It’s not worth going into, honestly,” Mattingly said when asked about the ejection. “I don’t really feel like I got my money’s worth. There was some frustration. We’ve had these guys three series in a row, and when you have them that long, there are a lot of complaints from guys. It is what it is.”
Players back on the mend
The Marlins announced following the game that all 18 players who are on the COVID-19 injured list have reported to Jupiter to begin workouts, which is the next step to returning to the active roster.
There is still no set timetable on when any of the players will return, but with the Marlins starting a seven-day, eight-game road trip on Friday, they will need to add players they think will be close to a return onto either the active roster or the taxi squad prior to the road trip if any of them are going to be part of those games.
Honoring the Negro Leagues
MLB on Sunday honored the Negro Leagues as part of their 100th anniversary. Players, managers and umpires league-wide wore a patch on their uniforms that was a derivative of the official logo created by the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum. The emblem was also featured on base jewels and lineup cards.
The Marlins took it a step further, donning the jerseys of the Miami Giants, a semipro baseball team in the 1930s that called Dorsey Park in the Overtown neighborhood of Miami their home field. The Giants faced many of the biggest stars in the Negro Leagues, including Hall of Famer Satchel Paige.
Negro Leagues Baseball Museum president Bob Kendrick said on a Marlins pre-game virtual roundtable Sunday that while the Giants were not an official member of the Negro League, “they certainly played a great role in the evolution of Black baseball and it allowed Black baseball to grow in the south.”
MLB Players Association executive director Tony Clark said in a statement said the MLBPA “recognizes the talented men and women who played in the Negro Leagues and who are an important part of our exclusive community of professional ballplayers.” MLB and the MLBPA made a joint donation of $1 million to the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in February.
