Tough Loss for the Marlins

Yesterday, the Marlins played the Rays in their series finale. Trevor Rogers took the hill for the Marlins against Tyler Glasnow of the Rays. After a series of missed opportunities for the Marlins, the Rays ended up walking it off with a 5-4 win in the 10th. The Marlins competed but lacked the extra fire to steal a win when they could have. 

What more can the pitching do?

Trevor Rogers is a 22-year-old kid who pitched 6 innings of 3 run baseball against arguably the best team in the American League. Brad Boxberger and Yimi Garcia combined for 3 scoreless innings. Allowing 3 runs over 9 innings shouldn’t be a guaranteed loss for any team, but for this Marlins squad every night it looks more and more like it’s the case. The pitching shows up and puts the Marlins in a position where they can win, but the hitting falls short. 

What is going on with the hitting?

Starling Marte hit a 2-run bomb in the first, but past that, the bats were quiet. The dichotomy between this team earlier in this season and now is evident. Lately, the Marlins have struggled to play small ball, resulting in lost opportunities and lost games. Before the 10th inning last night, the Marlins had a runner on 2nd base with nobody out in the 8th and 9th innings. In both cases, the Marlins failed to even move the runner over to third. I’m guessing Don Mattingly will not be happy with that sequence of events. 

Tough losses can have silver linings

Jazz Chisolm finally got on the board with his first MLB hit! Congratulations to him as he navigates his first few weeks in the bigs. He looks like an extremely talented young player who has fun on the field and loves what he is doing. Jazz Chisholm and Brian Anderson made two of the team’s best defensive plays back-to-back yesterday, which was good to see.

What’s next?

The Marlins need to pick up the pace if they are going to make a run for the playoffs. They can start doing so today against the Braves, where Jose Urena makes his season debut against the Braves’ Ian Anderson.