With his latest scoreless inning, Jarlin Garcia has set a Miami Marlins record
Miami Marlins reliever Jarlin Garcia stepped on the mound at Guaranteed Rate Field in the ninth inning on Tuesday night with the heart of the Chicago White Sox lineup due up against him.
The same trio — Jon Jay, Jose Abreu and Yoan Moncada — dominated against starter Trevor Richards on Monday night, combining for six hits (including two home runs), seven RBI and six runs scored. Jay, a Miami native and former standout at both Columbus High and the University of Miami, broke up Caleb Smith’s no-hitter and shutout earlier in the game Tuesday with a two-out RBI single through the right side in the sixth.
Garcia held them in check.
Groundout. Flyout. Groundout. Garcia needed 11 pitches to retire the side and seal the Marlins’ 5-1 win and snap a four-game losing streak.
He made Marlins history in the process.
Garcia’s perfect ninth inning ran his scoreless streak to 17 consecutive innings, the most by a Marlins left-handed reliever. Felix Heredia previously held the record with 16 during the Marlins’ 1997 World Series season.
Garcia, in his third major-league season, is the active MLB leader in consecutive scoreless innings heading into Wednesday’s slate of games.
Over this streak, which began in the ninth inning against the Pittsburgh Pirates on June 14 and has included 16 relief appearances, Garcia has struck out 12 batters while giving up just nine hits and two walks. He has allowed just two runners he inherited to score, runs that count against the pitcher who put them on base.
“He’s done a nice job of just maturing as a guy who’s been in the big leagues a little bit longer,” Mattingly said. “He knows that you have to prepare. You have to study — not like you have to cram for a test, but you do have to know where you go on certain guys, knowing the parts of the order you’re going to face and then having an idea of where you want to go.”
He can provide length, evidenced by two-inning stints against the St. Louis Cardinals on June 20 and the Philadelphia Phillies on June 23. He can escape jams and come in for the final out of an inning.
He can face both lefties and righties, who are hitting .171 and .221, respectively, against him.
“Jarlin has just kind of done a little bit of everything,” Mattingly said.
One of Garcia’s biggest strengths this season has been improved use of his slider, which he is throwing 36.5 percent of the time. He is holding opponents to a .125 batting average against with that pitch. His slider has been his primary putout pitch, using it for 14 of his 22 strikeouts this year.
“He’s taken to paying attention to where he needs to get the ball to and location,” Mattingly said.
Rojas’ return
Shortstop Miguel Rojas returned to the starting lineup for the Marlins’ series finale against the Chicago White Sox on Wednesday. He is batting first.
Rojas missed the past three games with a right shoulder strain, an injury that initially occurred when he was diving for a ground ball in the second inning against the Los Angeles Dodgers on Friday.
Prior to the short hiatus, Rojas had started 80 consecutive games at shortstop. He is hitting .283 with a career-high 21 doubles heading into the game.
“It feels good because the last couple days the guys have been grinding,” Rojas said. “These have been a couple tough series and not being able to be out there every day has been kind of weird because you kind of get used to playing every day and being a guy that wants to spark everybody at the top of the lineup. I’m glad that I’m back and glad that I’m healthy.”
Milestone
Jorge Alfaro’s third-inning single against the White Sox on Wednesday, the first hit of the game, was the 200th of his MLB career. Alfaro had at least one hit in four of his five starts this road trip.
Consistent Caleb
With his performance on Tuesday — one that saw him carry a perfect game into the sixth inning — Caleb Smith has now held opponents to two runs or fewer in 12 of his 16 starts this season.
His seven innings pitched tied a career high, and his nine strikeouts marked the eighth time this year he fanned at least eight batters. The Marlins have won each of the four games he has started since returning from the injured list.
Coming home
The Marlins follow up their series with the White Sox by returning to Marlins Park for a seven-game homestand. They play four games against the Arizona Diamondbacks starting Friday, the first three games of which are part of the team’s “Throwback Weekend,” and then host the Minnesota Twins for three games starting on Tuesday.
This story was originally published July 24, 2019 at 7:24 PM.
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