Why this Lewis Brinson hot streak is a little different. And Marlins lose key SP for year
Lewis Brinson was 2 for 2 with a couple of singles Friday against the Tampa Bay Rays and the Miami Marlins were trailing by a single run when his spot in the order came up in the top of the seventh inning. A right-handed pitcher, now, was on the mound, so Don Mattingly didn’t hesitate. Brinson’s day was done.
The outfielder had done his job against Josh Fleming, the Rays’ left-handed starting pitcher, and the Marlins were content to try to win without him. Brinson was content to watch Miami try to stage a comeback — it ultimately fell short 5-4 — from the bench.
“We’re trying to win ballgames,” Brinson said. “Whatever is going to put us in the best situation to win, whatever lineup is put out there, whether I’m in it or not -- it’s all about winning right now. Everybody knows it’s a 60-game sprint and we’re trying to make a playoff push, so whatever gives us the best chance of winning that ballgame, I’m all for it.”
With the Marlins (16-17) clinging to a playoff spot in the final month of the regular season, Brinson is in the midst of one of the best little hot streaks of his so-far underwhelming MLB career, but he’s doing it largely in a situational capacity. With his 2-for-2 game Friday in St. Petersburg, Brinson elevated his batting average to .381 in his last 10 games and 13 of his 21 plate appearances in the stretch have come against lefties.
In those at-bats, he’s 5 of 13 with a double and a home run.
“We’re finding a niche with the lefties. And that could lead to more and more,” manager Don Mattingly said, “but we’re finding that niche with the lefties and there’s a value in that.”
Brinson got yet another start Saturday against the Rays (27-12) with star lefty Blake Snell on the mound at Tropicana Field. It was his third consecutive start as the Marlins faced a left-handed starting pitcher for the third straight game.
Historically, Brinson has been quite a bit better against lefties than righties -- although none of the numbers were great. Entering Saturday, he was a career .172 hitter against right-handed pitchers and a .222 hitter against lefties.
In 2020, the splits are even more pronounced. Brinson is batting just .125 against righties, but his average has spiked to .320 against lefties with a .913 on-base-plus slugging percentage.
The role is breeding confidence for Brinson, who was once the centerpiece of Miami’s trade sending superstar outfielder Christian Yelich to the Milwaukee Brewers. The 26-year-old from Coral Springs High School has hits in six of his last seven games with a plate appearance and his average exit velocity in those games is 91.1 mph — almost 3 mph better than his career average. Nine of his last 17 batted balls have had an exit velocity of 93.5 mph or higher.
Brinson said he’s more confident than he’s ever been in Miami and he credits his work in the batting cage, where he tries to make the pitching machine emulate the upcoming pitcher as much as possible.
“I like to not so much have good results off the machine,” Brinson said, “just making sure my eyes are seeing as close to what I’m going to see in the game.”
Marlins rule out Hernandez for season
The Marlins’ will have to sew up a playoff spot without the help of one of its most reliable pitchers from this season.
Elieser Hernandez, who had spent most of the year as the de facto No. 2 starter on a Miami staff ravaged by COVID-19, is done for the season with a right lat strain. The Marlins transferred the pitcher to the 60-day injured list just a few days after placing him on the IL.
“We just knew right away that it was like 6-8 weeks minimum, so obviously he went to the 60. It sounds worse,” Mattingly said. “It’s not great news, but I don’t think it’s the worst news it could’ve been.”
Hernandez ranked send on the team with 25 2/3 innings pitched when he headed to the IL on Wednesday and his 3.16 ERA made him one of three starters for Miami with an ERA better than 3.20. Despite having already used 11 different starting pitchers in 2020, the Marlins still entered Saturday against the Tampa Bay Rays with the 11th best ERA by a starting staff in MLB, largely because of Hernandez’s sudden transformation from a fringe Major Leaguer into a front-line starter. The right-handed pitcher posted an ERA worse than 5.00 in each of his first two seasons.
The 25-year-old Venezuelan finishes his brief breakout season 1-0 with a 3.16 ERA, 34 strikeouts, nine walks and 1.013 walks plus hits per inning pitched in six starts.
Hernandez’s move to the 40-day IL also opens up space for Harold Ramirez to return. The outfielder had been on the IL since July after he got caught up in Miami’s COVID outbreak. The Marlins optioned utility infielder Eddy Alvarez to the alternate training site in Jupiter to make room for Ramirez on the active roster.
