The Miami Marlins pick up their first win of 2019 with victory over Colorado Rockies
The Marlins will not go winless this season and small ball might be the reason.
The combination of young right-handed starter Pablo Lopez and Marlins manager Don Mattingly’s strategic move to bat Miguel Rojas in the leadoff spot paid dividends in Miami’s 7-3 victory against the Colorado Rockies Saturday night at Marlins Park.
“I feel like they pitch me different when I’m on the top of the lineup,’’ Rojas said. “When I’m down they throw me more breaking stuff. They give me more fastballs when I’m on top of the lineup. I’m just trying to give the team a little spark.’’
Lopez, 23, picked up where he left off in Spring Training when he led the league with an 0.90 ERA. The 6-4 Lopez followed Trevor Richards’ sterling start Friday (one run over 6 innings) with an overpowering outing, going 5 1/3 innings, while allowing three runs on five singles with a career-high seven strikeouts and no walks. Twice last season, Lopez (1-0) fanned six.
“I felt like everything was in synch,’’ Lopez said. “Me and the catcher [Chad Wallach] went over the lineup card before the game so we were on the same page from the get-go. I was trusting him 100 percent.’’
Rojas smacked three hits, including two doubles, and drove in three runs to pace the Marlins’ 16-hit barrage or 10 more hits that they combined for in the first two games. The Marlins (1-2) cracked four homers in those losses, but settled for four doubles and 12 singles Saturday, including Curtis Granderson’s safety-squeeze bunt single in Miami’s two-run, lead-padding seventh inning.
“Pablo set the tone for us. He threw the ball really well,’’ Mattingly said. “The guys kept chipping away. A lot of firsts tonight. We get the first win out of the way. A lot of guys who didn’t have any hits got hits. There’s probably a lot of sighs in that room from the standpoint. That first one you got to get out of the way, whether it’s a hit or getting an appearance, all of those type of things you got to get them out of the way when you get into your season.’’
In his 11th career start, Lopez mixed in 94-mph fastballs with sweeping curves and changeups. He notched five of his strikeouts in the fourth and fifth innings. However, Mattingly pulled him with one out in the sixth with a runner on first after Lopez had reached 88 pitches, 62 for strikes.
In came Plantation native Tyler Kinley, who was greeted with consecutive singles, including an RBI hit by Ian Desmond. He atoned with consecutive strikeouts to end the threat with Miami clinging to a 5-3 lead.
Relievers Adam Conley and Sergio Romo bounced back from sub-par outings Friday, while Nick Anderson dominated the Rockies in his eighth-inning stint with three straight strikeouts. Drew Steckenrider pitched a hitless ninth.
Rojas, who didn’t start Friday, has spent most of his career batting either in the second or 6th through 8th positions. He led off Saturday for the 16th time (start) of his 514-game career, including 13 times for Mattingly last season when he batted .291 from that spot.
Rockies left-handed starter Tyler Anderson (0-1), who struggled with a 7.71 ERA in four Spring appearances, lasted five innings and allowed five runs on nine hits to go with three strikeouts and no walks.
Tied at 2-2 in the fourth, the Marlins scored three runs all with two outs with the big blow a two-run double by Rojas to left-center. Rosell Herrera, a waiver pickup from Kansas City in January, knocked in his first run as a Marlin with a sharp single.
Backup catcher Chad Wallach’s ground-rule double set up the three-run inning.
The Marlins grabbed their first two-run lead of the season in the second inning.
Lewis Brinson led off with a double to the base of the left-field wall. Martin Prado gave himself up with a tapper to the right side but reached on an infield single when it got past Anderson.
Granderson, given the start against a left-hander because of Garrett Cooper’s thigh injury, hit a sacrifice fly.
Lopez, who has shown he’s not an easy out, singled sharply to left-center. Rojas’ squib double down the first-base line scored Prado, who went 3-for-4 with an RBI.
Lopez’ inexperience cost him two runs in the third inning. Garrett Hampson singled for Colorado’s first hit and advanced to second when Lopez drilled No. 8 hitter Chris Iannetta on the elbow. Lopez balked the runners over and one out later Charlie Blackmon’s infield single — in which Lopez was late covering first base — scored Hampson. David Dahl’s sacrifice fly forged a 2-2 tie.
The Marlins will hope to gain a split of the four-game series Sunday (1:10 p.m.) by starting right-hander Sandy Alcantara against Rockies right-hander Jon Gray.
This story was originally published March 30, 2019 at 9:18 PM.