Marlins drop to 1-5, but big expectations remain. ‘That can’t define us,’ Mattingly said
With a thunderous crack of the bat echoing off the roof of loanDepot park, all Pablo Lopez could do was avert his eyes, sigh and start to walk off the mound, resigned to what Yadier Molina had just done to his Miami Marlins.
Once again, they were going to face a late deficit. A 427-foot, two-run home run gave the St. Louis Cardinals some breathing room against the Marlins’ stagnant offense — more than enough for a 7-0 win and sweep.
“It’s mostly frustration,” Lopez said.
Miami has been through it over and over again in this opening week of the 2021 MLB season: The starting pitcher usually fares well. The offense doesn’t. A late home run or two — usually given up by the Marlins’ bullpen — is enough to send Miami to another loss.
It happened again Wednesday and now the Marlins sit alone at the bottom of the National League East standings after their first homestand of the season.
After a thrilling 2020, Miami (1-5) is living a recurring nightmare to start 2021.
Last season was a miracle for the the Marlins, who weathered the Majors’ most significant COVID-19 outbreak to post their best winning percentage since 2009 and reach the MLB postseason for the first time since they won the 2003 World Series. They went eight straight days without playing a game early in the year and trotted out a roster filled with fringe Major Leaguers, no-name rookies and prematurely promoted prospects once they could finally start playing.
On the field, they only had one stretch similar to the one Miami faced in the first week of this season. The Marlins lost 6 of 7 in the first month last year before they regrouped. It was the only time in the abbreviated 60-game season they lost 5 of 6, as they’ve now done to start this new year.
“We’re six games in. It hasn’t went very well, but that can’t define us,” manager Don Mattingly said. “If we’re going to let that define us, then we weren’t going to do anything, anyway.”
In four of the six games, Miami’s starter went at least five innings while allowing two runs or fewer. In two of the six, a relief pitcher took the loss, with home runs the primary culprit. The Marlins scored four runs or fewer in all five losses and have one of the seven lowest scoring offenses in baseball.
The same formula persisted Wednesday and the Cardinals (4-2) finished off a three-game sweep.
Marlins waste another starter’s gem
Lopez cruised through six innings, scattering two hits and a walk to keep the Marlins locked in a scoreless tie into the seventh inning. He started the seventh by striking out star third baseman Nolan Arenado and then survived a long lineout from St. Louis shortstop Paul DeJong before walking Cardinals third baseman Matt Carpenter. With two outs and a runner on first base, Molina punished Lopez (0-1) to put St. Louis up 2-0, drawing groans from the crowd of 5,244 in Miami.
Lopez’s day ended after the right-handed pitcher allowed three hits, two walks and two runs with six strikeouts in 6 2/3 innings, raising his ERA to 1.54 through two starts.
Once again, the Marlins’ offense couldn’t support him. Miami scored just three runs in three games against the Cardinals, culminating with a Jack Flaherty-led shutout.
What’s ailing the Marlins’ offense?
Six days after the Cincinnati Reds rocked Flaherty (1-0) for six runs in 4 1/3 innings, the St. Louis starting pitcher blanked the Marlins for six, giving up just one hit and four walks with six strikeouts.
Miami went 0 for 5 with runners in scoring position Wednesday and is now batting .180 in those situations this season. The Marlins went 0 for 9 with runners on any base and are now batting .215 with 13 RBIs with men on.
There are more than 150 games left, but there’s also “urgency” to fix what’s going wrong, Mattingly said. After last season, Miami expects better.
“We had some chances. We didn’t do anything with them,” Mattingly said. “We’ve got to just continue to trust the next guy and have quality at-bats. This is going to change and usually it takes a game in here to break through, but right now, obviously, it’s not going very well.
“In general, nothing changes on the way we feel about our club and what we’re going to be capable of going forward.”
Marlins leave pitching options open
The Marlins still haven’t committed to a starting pitcher for their first game against the New York Mets on Thursday at Citi Field.
Either way, Miami will turn to a relief pitcher with Nick Neidert and Paul Campbell both available to make their first start of the season when the Marlins open a three game series against the Mets (1-2) at 1:10 p.m. in Queens, New York.
This story was originally published April 7, 2021 at 7:20 PM.
