Day after shutout loss, Miami Marlins stick with same lineup in hopes of busting slump

A day after being shut out for the first time in 2019, the Miami Marlins latest idea to bust out of a team-wide slump offensively was to not change anything — at least with the lineup.

For the first time in the young season, the Marlins used a repeat lineup for the second game of a three-game series against the Atlanta Braves on Saturday.

“Obviously, we didn’t like the results, but we like that combination of guys,” manager Don Mattingly said. “It’s kind of what we’ve been doing, maybe not in the same order, but pretty much the combinations have been the same.”

Miami (2-6) used a different lineup for its first eight hitters in each of the team’s first eight games before rolling out the repeat at 7:20 p.m. at Suntrust Park. The lineup — left fielder Curtis Granderson, third baseman Brian Anderson, Neil Walker, second baseman Starlin Castro, catcher Jorge Alfaro, shortstop JT Riddle, center fielder Lewis Brinson and right fielder Peter O’Brien — combined for just three hits against the Braves (4-3) on Friday in a 4-0 loss in Atlanta, but the Marlins did load the bases in the top of the ninth before stranding three runners.

Miami also grounded into three double plays Friday, which Mattingly said made the overall outcome of the game appear worse.

As a whole, the Marlins’ offense still ranks around the middle of the pack in MLB. Entering Saturday, Miami ranked No. 18 with a .237 batting average, No. 20 with a .295 on-base percentage and No. 21 with a .363 slugging percentage despite Granderson, Anderson, Walker and Alfaro all batting in the .100s.

Considering Granderson has batted leadoff in all five games he’s started and Anderson has been a fixture at either No. 2 or 3, Miami’s offense could massively improve just by getting those two on track. The Marlins are going to trust it’ll happen.

“We’re staying with our plan early,” Mattingly said. “We’ve had games where we’ve been pretty good offensively and we’ve had games that we haven’t been as good, so, again, we’ll let our guys settle in and see where we go.”

Here are the full lineups for Saturday:

Miami Marlins

Curtis Granderson, RF

Brian Anderson, 3B

Neil Walker, 1B

Starlin Castro, 2B

Jorge Alfaro, C

JT Riddle, SS

Lewis Brinson, CF

Peter O’Brien, RF

Sandy Alcantara, SP

Atlanta Braves

Ender Inciarte, CF

Ozzie Albies, 2B

Freddie Freeman, 1B

Ronald Acuna Jr., LF

Nick Markakis, RF

Johan Camargo, 3B

Brian McCann, C

Dansby Swanson, SS

Kyle Wright, SP

Gallen dominates Opening Day in New Orleans

Miami’s starting rotation has been an early-season bright spot despite an overall slow start for the Marlins. Even more reinforcements for an already good pitching staff might not be far off, either.

Zac Gallen, Miami’s No. 18 overall prospect in the MLB.com rankings, opened the 2019 season for Triple A New Orleans with a dominant outing Friday in New Orleans. The starting pitcher threw seven shutout innings against Triple A Round Rock, the Houston Astros’ affiliate, and struck out 11 batters without a walk on just 87 pitches. The New Orleans Baby Cakes took a no-hitter into the ninth inning before the Round Rock Express hit a solo home run with two outs. The Baby Cakes hung on for a 2-1 win at the Shrine on Airline.

Gallen’s outing was even more impressive because of the lineup he was facing. The Express’ lineup featured four of the Astros’ top 16 prospects, including Kyle Tucker, the No. 5 overall prospect in baseball. The outfielder, a potential American League Rookie of the Year contender, went 0 for 3 with two strikeouts against Gallen.

Gallen, who the Marlins acquired from the St. Louis Cardinals in 2017 in exchange for outfielder Marcell Ozuna, also spent the entire 2018 season with New Orleans, where he went 8-9 with a 3.65 ERA, 136 strikeouts and 1.47 walks plus hits per inning pitched in 25 starts.

This and that

▪ O’Brien is currently the biggest question mark in the Marlins lineup, just 1 for 14 so far. Mattingly knows the first baseman can be streaky, though, so he plans to stick with him at the bottom of the order, knowing he could start to run into home runs at any point.

▪ Third baseman Martin Prado received a nice ovation as a pinch hitter Friday. Mattingly still considers Prado primarily a platoon option at first base, but acknowledged he “could see this thing turning into a different variety of things.”

This story was originally published April 6, 2019 at 6:31 PM.