‘This is a fun team’: Chisholm, Marte star as surging Marlins open homestand with win
The crowd of 5,734 at loanDepot park buzzed every time Jazz Chisholm Jr. came to the plate Friday. They knew the hot streak he put together to end the Miami Marlins’ road trip and they knew something thrilling could happen anytime he came to the plate against the San Francisco Giants. They perked up anytime his name was announced. At least one fan donned a blue wig to match Chisholm’s signature hairstyle, and held up a sign imploring everyone to “JAZZ THIS PLACE UP.”
In the fifth inning, he brought the Marlins to life with a game-tying solo home run and set the stage for a 4-1, come-from-behind win in Miami.
“I actually just looked at him the pitch before and I saw his sign and the blue hair and I was like, Oh, that’s what’s up!” Chisholm said. “It was the pitch right before, so I was like, Sick!”
In the bottom of the eighth, outfielder Starling Marte finally broke the tie with a game-winning, 427-foot homer off Giants pitcher Matt Wisler.
With four wins in five games and a lineup littered with difference-makers, the Marlins’ hot streak continued back at home.
It began with five strong innings from starting pitcher Daniel Castano, who held San Francisco to three hits and one run in his 2021 debut, but threw his final pitch with the Marlins (6-7) trailing 1-0.
The top of the fifth ended with three straight groundouts and Chisholm stepped to the plate to start the bottom of the frame against Anthony DeSclafani.
The middle infielder laid off three breaking balls outside the strike zone. He fouled off three fastballs. The Giants starting pitcher couldn’t get the rookie to chase his breaking balls and he couldn’t beat him with speed. On the seventh pitch of the at-bat, DeSclafani went back to his slider and it barely moved, hanging over the heart of the plate at 86 mph. Chisholm pounced on the mistake and rocketed it 373 feet over the right-field fence to tie the game at 1-1.
“First time hitting a homer at Marlins Park, the stadium’s erupting — it was one of the coolest moments I’ve had so far in baseball,” Chisholm said. “It’s kind of sick running around your home bases and everybody’s screaming.”
With two hits, Chisholm extended his hitting streak to five games. He’s 7 of 17 with three homers, two doubles and three walks in the five games.
“I don’t think we need him to go try to be a star. We just need him to go play and the way he plays is really what attracts people,” manager Don Mattingly said. “My wife tells me in spring training, ‘Jazz is fun.’ He’s fun to watch and that’s really what you’re seeing with him.”
Four relief pitchers combined to throw four scoreless innings the rest of the way. Adam Cimber worked around a hit and a walk in the sixth. John Curtiss and Anthony Bass both followed with 1-2-3 innings, and Yimi Garcia closed out San Francisco (8-5) in the ninth after Marte blew the game open.
Bass (1-2) finished a clean eighth to keep the score tied and Miami started to string together good at-bats. First baseman Jesus Aguilar drew a pinch hit walk, outfielder Corey Dickerson knocked a single into left field and Marte came to the plate, just searching for a single to put the Marlins ahead. On the second pitch of the at-bat, he took Wisler (0-2) deep to left-center to give Miami a 4-1 lead and, eventually, a fifth win in six games since a 1-6 start.
“This is a fun team. If you’re not having fun on this team,” Castano said, “you need to play a different sport or do something else.”
Marlins feel optimistic about Alfaro
There are telltale signs — beyond just the abysmal offensive numbers — the Marlins can look at and understand why Jorge Alfaro is off to such a rocky offensive start to the 2021 MLB season.
It starts in the batter’s box, where Alfaro’s anticipatory bat wiggle is a little more tense than it typically is. It continues on the basepaths, where Alfaro is running noticeably slower as an act of caution for his dinged up left hamstring. They’re signs of change for the catcher, Mattingly said, and an intentional effort to unlock the best in Alfaro.
“We’re trying to calm him down,” Mattingly said. “We feel like he’d be probably a better hitter at 80 percent.”
In his three years in Miami, Alfaro has carved out a role as the Marlins’ everyday catcher with obvious hallmarks to his often up-and-down performance.
His arm strength behind the plate is tantalizing. His raw power is undeniable. For a catcher, his speed is almost legendary. It all comes as part of the package for Alfaro, who’s always going “full out,” Mattingly said, and has never batted better than .262. The nickname “El Oso,” Spanish for “The Bear,” is fitting for the 6-foot-3, 230-pound righty.
After Alfaro batted just .226 with a .280 on-base percentage and .344 slugging percentage last season, Miami is trying to harness the best of his bear-like attributes by slowing him down. Mechanically, his issues at the plate come on his turn and the Marlins’ belief is, essentially, he’s trying to do too much to generate power.
‘That’s really where we feel like a lot of the problems come. When he starts to try to get more, he seems to do it with the turn,” Mattingly said. “The guys are trying to keep him calm and trying to get him to stay at 80 percent.”
While injuries have held him up early this season, Alfaro is the clear weak link in the lineup so far, a fixture at No. 8 in the order and one of only two regulars with a batting average worse than .250. His adjusted OPS — which adjusts on-base-plus-slugging percentage for park factors and puts it in context of league averages, where 100 is average — sat at 7 through six games.
The Marlins feel good about Alfaro’s hamstring after he missed four games last week, but the time away, Mattingly believes, has been a contributor to his slow start. There’s also just not a large sample size yet and some Statcast metrics suggest a breakout coming, as his average exit velocity of 93.8 mph is the best of his career and fifth best among catchers with at least 10 balls put in play.
Defensively, his progress has also impressed Mattingly and receiving was maybe his biggest focus in the offseason. So far this year, he’s one of 14 catchers with at least a 50-percent called strike rate on the edges of the zone after he was at just 41.3 percent last year.
“It doesn’t help a guy early in the season to have multiple days off and then try to not necessarily start over, but get that timing and start getting into some type of rhythm,” Mattingly said. “We’re happy with Jorgie.”
Sixto Sanchez, Elieser Hernandez throwing
Pitchers Sixto Sanchez, Elieser Hernandez and Edward Cabrera are all progressing in their rehabs in Jacksonville, throwing from various distances at Miami’s alternate training site.
Cabrera, who’s recovering from an inflamed nerve in his right biceps, is farthest along and throwing from 75 feet, followed by Hernandez, then Sanchez.
Hernandez, who started the Marlins’ third game of the season April 3 before landing on the injured list with right biceps tendon inflammation, is throwing from 60 feet. Sanchez, who’s dealing with right shoulder inflammation, is still throwing from 45.
This story was originally published April 16, 2021 at 5:23 PM.
