Shaky first inning erases early lead and Marlins can’t finish rally in loss to Braves

His outing Monday started with back-to-back walks, an elevated pitch count and four runs coming across home plate before he could get his first three outs of the game.

It ended with six consecutive strikeouts in the third and fourth innings, showing the command and stuff the Miami Marlins liked from him when they called him up to help with their playoff run.

At that point, though, Trevor Rogers was already at 91 pitches. He wouldn’t see the fifth. The Marlins wouldn’t recover either in their 5-4 loss to the Braves that began a pivotal four-game series at Truist Park.

The Marlins had the game-tying run on the basepaths in the ninth when Jesus Aguilar hit a leadoff single. Monte Harrison pinch-ran for him and was thrown out trying to go from first to third on a Matt Joyce chopper back to the mound with Atlanta in the shift. Freddie Freeman fired the ball to a running Dansby Swanson, the only Braves player on the left side of the infield, who got the tag on Harrison for a double play. Brian Anderson flew out to right to end the game.

Miami drops to 28-26 on the season with six games left. They are four games behind the Braves (32-22) for the National League East lead.

The one bright side to come out of Monday: The Philadelphia Phillies lost 5-1 to the Washington Nationals. That means the Marlins retain their one-game lead over the Phillies for second place in the division, which guarantees a playoff spot this year. Miami’s magic number to clinch a playoff spot is now five.

Any chance for a lengthy start was likely doomed in the first on a combination of shakiness from both Rogers and his infield.

Rogers, the Marlins’ first-round pick in 2017 and their seventh-ranked prospect according to MLBPipeline, walked Ronald Acuna Jr and Freeman to open the game. Pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre Jr. immediately went out for a mound meeting at that point.

The rest of the inning unfolded as follows:

▪ Marcell Ozuna grounded into a fielder’s choice to Jon Berti. Acuna made it to third.

▪ Travis d’Arnaud drove in Acuna with an RBI infield single down the third-base line. Brian Anderson couldn’t field the ball.

▪ Adam Duvall grounded into a fielder’s choice. Ozuna made it to third.

▪ Ozzie Albies hit an RBI single that deflected off Jon Berti’s glove an into center field.

▪ Austin Riley lined a double into right field to score two more before Tyler Flowers grounded out.

Eight batters. Thirty-nine pitches. Four runs scored, completely erasing the Marlins’ three-run effort to start the game. It was the second consecutive start in which Rogers struggled with his pitch count in the first inning. He needed 34 pitches to get his first three outs against the Boston Red Sox on Wednesday and only made it through three innings that night.

On Monday against the Braves, he settled down and found his groove. He held Atlanta to one run int he second, worked around back-to-back singles in the third by striking out Riley, Flowers and Swanson, and needed 16 pitches to strikeout Acuna, Freeman and Ozuna in the fourth.

At that point, though, the damage was already done, and the Marlins couldn’t capitalize on late opportunities.

They had Corey Dickerson on third base with one out in the seventh. Jesus Aguilar and Matt Joyce both struck out swinging.

They used a two-out rally in the eighth to score one run and cut their deficit in half. Jorge Alfaro drove in Miguel Rojas, who started the threat with a single that fell into shallow left field past Swanson. A Lewis Brinson walk then loaded the bases before Riley snatched a line drive from Starling Marte to end the inning.

And then came the ninth, where a risky play proved costly.

Expanded taxi squad

The Marlins are carrying 12 players on their taxi squad for this final week of the season, up from the normal five that has been allowed for the majority of the season.

The group includes six pitchers (Edward Cabrera, Jordan Holloway, Dan Castano, Braxton Garrett, Alex Vesia and Stephen Tarpley), two infielders (first baseman Lewin Diaz and Jose Devers), two outfielders (Jesus Sanchez and Magneuris Sierra) and two catchers (Ryan Lavarnway and Brian Navaretto).

All except for Devers, Holloway, Lavarnway and Navaretto are part of the Marlins’ 40-man roster. Sierra and Tarpley are on the 10-day injured list respectively with hamstring and oblique injuries. Holloway is on the COVID-19 IL.

Instructional camp scheduled

Gary Denbo, the Marlins’ vice president of player development and scouting, said in a mid-game interview on the Fox Sports Florida broadcast that the Marlins plan to hold a six-week instructional league camp at their spring training complex in Jupiter. That camp is slated to start next week.

Denbo said the organization invited 50 of their top up-and-coming players to participate in the camp. He listed off nine of the club’s top-30 prospects as part of that group: 2019 first-round outfielder JJ Bleday (No. 2), 2020 first-round pick pitcher Max Meyer (No. 3), 2020 second-round pick pitcher Dax Fulton (No. 12), 2018 first-round pick outfielder Connor Scott (No. 15), 2019 third-round pick outfielder Peyton Burdick (No. 16), 2019 international free agent signing shortstop Jose Salas (No. 19), 2019 second-round pick shortstop Nasim Nunez (No. 20) and 2018 competitive balance pick catcher Will Banfield (No. 29)

This will serve as the first live, on-field work for many of the Marlins’ top prospects since early March, when the COVID-19 pandemic halted spring training two weeks before Opening Day and ultimately canceled the minor-league season. Players who are not part of a team’s 60-player roster pool have not been allowed to be with the club, including at their alternate training site.

“We’re very excited to be able to get these guys back on the field at our player development and scouting complex in Jupiter,” Denbo said on the broadcast. “It’s going to be fun to watch because for as many good players that we have here at the Major League level right now, we have just as many at the minor-league level. We feel our future really, really is going to be something special with these young players. We feel like we’ve developed layers of talent throughout the organization that is going to allow us to keep this thing going and continue our winning ways for years to come.”