After 2 big pitching performances, can the rest of the Marlins’ rotation step up?
Caleb Smith flirted with perfection, retiring the first 17 batters he faced before ultimately giving up just one run through seven innings Tuesday against the Chicago White Sox.
Zac Gallen, a 23-year-old rookie who had not thrown more than 5 1/3 innings through his first five starts, followed Smith’s performance with seven shutout innings of his own Wednesday.
The duo played a pivotal part in the Miami Marlins clinching their series against the White Sox and allowed them to take some positives from a road trip that started with them being swept by the Los Angeles Dodgers and dropping the opener against the White Sox.
“We’ve been pretty resilient all year,” Marlins manager Don Mattingly said. “In the L.A. series, we had a chance to win a couple of games in there and didn’t do anything with them. That first game [in Chicago], we talk about pitchers’ momentum as a starter. We were behind early. Just never got anything going. Then we bounce back and play good the next couple of days, that’s good.”
They also provided a stark reminder of what the Marlins had shown before the All-Star break: The Marlins’ starting pitching, while young and susceptible to inconsistency, has the potential to be among MLB’s best.
The goal now is for the rest of the rotation to catch up to its early season form, an opportunity that presents itself this weekend as the Marlins host the Arizona Diamondbacks for a four-game series starting Friday.
Smith and Gallen are just the second duo of Marlins starting pitchers to give up fewer than two hits and strike out at least nine batters in consecutive starts. The first: Josh Beckett against the Philadelphia Phillies and Brad Penny against the Montreal Expos on April 11 and 13, 2004.
They were also the first two to go more than than six innings for the Marlins since the All-Star break.
“There’s sort of a competition [among the Miami starters],” Gallen said. “If one guy does better, you kind of want to one-up him. At the same time, you can pick up stuff that he [Smith] did last night. Even though he’s from the other side, there are still things that you can gauge their approach, and I think that helped me tonight.”
As for the other three, they have speed bumps to overcome.
Marlins starters overall went into the break with a collective 3.06 ERA, which ranked fourth in the National League. In the 12 games since, the collective ERA is 4.82.
Gallen (1.56) and Smith (2.50) are still producing quality results. The other three — Sandy Alcantara, Jordan Yamamoto and Trevor Richards — all have an ERA of 7.00 or higher.
Alcantara, facing off against the Diamondbacks’ Zack Greinke on Friday, has given up 10 earned runs in 11 innings over his past two starts.
Yamamoto, matched against Alex Young on Saturday, dropped the first decision of his MLB career when he gave up five earned runs — including the first two home runs of his MLB career — against the Dodgers on Sunday.
Richards, facing Robbie Ray on Sunday, has gone just five innings in each of his past five starts, all losses. In that span, Richards has given up 23 runs in 25 innings — an 8.28 ERA — on 34 hits and 13 walks while striking out 23 batters.
“There’s plenty of concern,” Mattingly said of Richards, who gave up a career-high seven runs against the White Sox on Monday. “Obviously, when a guy is not pitching well for extended periods, you worry about that. Obviously, there’s been things along this route, trying to be able to help him, making sure the fastball command [is there], and different things he’s working on.”
Throwback weekend
The first three games of the Marlins’ series with the Diamondbacks will also serve as the team’s second annual throwback weekend. The Marlins will wear their iconic teal pinstripe vests from the 1997 championship season and a group of alumni — including Jeff Conine, Charles Johnson, Luis Castillo, Antonio Alfonseca and Alex Gonzalez — will be at the ballpark throughout the weekend.
Merchandise, including authentic jerseys and even a limited-edition Swarovski Florida Marlins snapback hat, will be available at stadium stores. The collection will also feature a collaboration with Miami-based footwear store Shoe Gallery.
This story was originally published July 25, 2019 at 2:23 PM.
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