One final look at the Miami Marlins’ road trip as they get ready for three home games
Some extra notes, news and takeaways from the Miami Marlins’ seven-game road trip, which included a three-game sweep of the Detroit Tigers and 3-1 series loss to the Washington Nationals.
The positives:
Clutch hitting: Manager Don Mattingly has insisted all season the Marlins’ offense wasn’t as bad as the numbers suggested. Miami, he said, just couldn’t get the key hit or the breaks it needed to score even three runs per game.
Success started to come together for the Marlins on May 17, when a six-game winning streak started against the New York Mets. It came to a head in Detroit with their three wins Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. On Tuesday, Miami collected 10 hits and won with five runs on a clutch double by catcher Chad Wallach in the 11th inning. On Wednesday, the Marlins piled up 11 hits, and scored six runs thanks to a pair of home runs by outfielders Garrett Cooper and Harold Ramirez. Cooper then did it again Thursday, crushing a game-winning grand slam in the ninth inning to give Miami five runs and a sixth straight victory.
It even continued Friday at Nationals Park, where the Marlins racked up 15 hits and matched a season-high with 10 runs. Miami needed clutch hitting to get back in the win column with a 3-2 victory Monday. Down 2-1 in the seventh, the Marlins scored the game-tying run on a groundout and the game-winning run with a sacrifice fly. Miami is figuring out how to support their young starters at the plate.
Harold Ramirez: The rookie has done pretty much exactly what the Marlins hoped he would when they called him up for the first time May 11: hit.
On Sunday, the rookie set a franchise record for hits in a player’s first 11 games when a three-hit day gave him 15 for the season. Mattingly even moved him up to the No. 2 spot in the order for the final two games of the road trip. He’s far and away the Marlins’ most reliable hitter right now and his presence transforms the offense.
“He’s a guy that just kind of lengthens your order,” Mattingly said Saturday. “You start getting back in the six hole or so and he’s a guy that’s hitting the ball hard a lot, getting hits, getting on base. It kind of feeds everything. These guys don’t necessarily have to be hitting home runs, but when you’re getting action out there on the bases it gives guys more chances, puts a little more pressure on the pitcher and makes it just better for everyone.”
Jose Urena: May was ultimately good to Jose Urena, even after it started with him allowing five earned runs in six innings against the Atlanta Braves on May 3. The starting pitcher finished the month by beating Washington on Monday, needing only 80 pitches to go seven innings and hold the Nationals to two runs on four hits. Earlier on the trip, the right-handed pitcher held the Tigers to two runs in six innings at Comerica Park.
In his four starts since May 3, Urena has a 2.07 ERA in 26 innings. He looks like Miami’s ace again.
“We were thinking how I was last year, how I finished,” Urena said. “We were working on it and put it together, and you see the results.”
Brian Anderson’s power: Mattingly has said all season the Marlins are looking for some more pop to their lineup. Anderson is their best hope.
Although he’s still batting just .230, Anderson found some extra-base pop on Miami’s road trip. The slugging third baseman started the first six games of the road trip before he got a day off to just be a pinch hitter Sunday and slugged .739 in those six games.
“More than anything just trying not to force the ball the other way. If the pitch is out there, I’ll go with it, but I’m just looking for stuff out over the middle, I’m trying to drive it through the middle of the field and if it’s inside you pull it,” Anderson said Friday. “I’ve been doing a lot better job of pulling the ball with a little bit more authority.”
The negatives:
Some starting pitching regression: The Marlins’ starting staff was filthy throughout their six-game winning streak, which ended Friday. The six starters combined to put up a 1.85 ERA in the wins as an already-good staff briefly became one of the best in the Majors.
It was always going to be impossible for Miami to keep up the pace, though, and the Marlins came back to earth in Washington. Pablo Lopez allowed four runs and only lasted 3 1/3 innings Friday. Fellow starting pitcher Sandy Alcantara gave up four earned runs in five innings Saturday. Even Caleb Smith, who has been one of the best starting pitchers in the National League, gave up a season-high five earned runs in a season-low three innings Sunday.
“I didn’t think I had command of any of my pitches, really,” Smith said Sunday. “My fastball, I left over the middle. I wasn’t able to throw my secondary pitches for strikes when I needed to. They capitalized on it.”
The bullpen: Once every week or so, the inexperience of Miami’s bullpen becomes obvious. The hard-throwing bunch sometimes looks like one of the best in the NL, but every once in a while it has a collective meltdown.
This was the case Friday when the Marlins blew a chance to extend its winning streak to seven games because six relievers combined to allow eight earned runs in 5 1/3 innings. Miami has three of the top 100 strikeout relievers in the Majors, but only two players in the current bullpen have an ERA better than 4.00 and only one has a number better than 3.30.
Although the talent is clearly there, it’s still not obvious just how reliable this bullpen can be when asked to throw a significant number of innings like it had to against the Nationals.
Starlin Castro’s ongoing struggles: Castro is starting to show signs he’s getting on track. The Marlins are still awaiting a breakthrough, though.
Castro did score the game-winning run for Miami after singling in his last at-bat of its 3-2 win Monday and his average exit velocity is now better than league average. Still, he’s hitting groundballs at a higher rate than he ever has and still has only five extra-base hits all season.
The batting average will tick back up eventually — he’s now up to .227 after starting the road trip at .225 and sitting at .214 earlier in May. The bigger long-term issue is whether he’ll be able to hit for any sort of power even when some of the hard luck evens out.
This story was originally published May 28, 2019 at 1:08 AM.