How the Miami Marlins are ‘treading water’ on road trip despite a rash of injuries
For a day, the Miami Marlins are able to breathe, relax and reset.
The Marlins just finished their second leg of their three-city, 10-game road trip — one that took them to the West Coast, then into Wisconsin and finishes in the nation’s capital. Six of their primary starting position players are dealing with various injuries, not to mention they are still mixing and matching at the back end of their starting rotation.
Even with that, the Marlins have gone 3-4 so far, dropping three of four against the San Francisco Giants before taking two of three against the Milwaukee Brewers, as they prepare to play three games against the Washington Nationals starting on Friday. Miami has outscored opponents by a combined 29-21 score. Three of the four losses were by either one or two runs.
At 11-13, the Marlins are just one game back of the NL East-leading Atlanta Braves and Philadelphia Phillies, who have identical 12-12 records.
“I think I just refer to this time and this trip as really, ‘Every win we can get,’” manager Don Mattingly said. “We’re kind of treading water, keeping ourselves going while we’re in this little lull of injuries. It’s going to be hopefully a short period of time. We’ve got to just continue to get down the road and tread water and keep ourselves in the pack, knowing that you still got a lot of baseball to be played.”
The injuries Mattingly mentioned, for those who need a recap:
▪ Center fielder Starling Marte has a fractured left rib and has been out since April 20.
▪ Catcher Jorge Alfaro has a left hamstring strain and has been out since April 21.
▪ Third baseman Brian Anderson has a left oblique strain and has been out since April 20.
▪ Second baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr. has a left hamstring strain and was placed on the injured list Wednesday.
▪ And left fielder Corey Dickerson (minor right groin discomfort) and first baseman/right fielder Garrett Cooper (sore left foot) left Wednesday’s 6-2 win over the Brewers in the fourth inning.
“With the group of guys we have,” utility player Jon Berti said, “we’re going to keep punching. That’s our mentality. No matter who’s in the lineup, who’s available for us that day, we’re just going to keep punching from the first out until the last out and see how it plays out. We’re just going to keep going and keep pushing.
So how have the Marlins kept themselves playing competitive baseball despite losing most of their core players?
Strong starting pitching
It starts on the mound. No including the finale against the Giants when the Marlins used an opener, Miami starting pitching has put together a 3.06 ERA so far this road trip, holding opponents to 11 earned runs while striking out 27 and walking just eight over 32 1/3 innings.
The trio of Sandy Alcantara, Pablo Lopez and Trevor Rogers has combined for a 2.53 ERA through 92 1/3 innings this year. They have collectively struck out 106 batters and walked just 29 through their 16 starts. Opponents are hitting below .200 against both Alcantara and Rogers.
Lopez will start Friday and Rogers on Sunday against the Nationals, with Rule 5 pick Paul Campbell listed as the Marlins’ starter for Saturday.
Power hitting from Jesus Aguilar
It took a small diet change (good bye arugula; hello again, arepas) for Jesus Aguilar to start hitting home runs again.
At least that’s the story Aguilar is telling.
Whatever the actual reason might be, Aguilar has hit home runs in five of his last six games after going without one through his first 59 at-bats of the season.
Aguilar entered Thursday tied for the MLB lead with 22 RBI and he is one of 48 players with at least five home runs.
But the home runs are just part of the story. Aguilar is simply hitting the ball a lot harder lately.
Eight of his 12 hardest hits on balls in play this season have come during this road trip.
Contributions from the replacements
▪ Berti is hitting .231 with two home runs, three walks, three RBI and five runs scored in eight games since taking over for Anderson at third base.
▪ Chad Wallach and Sandy Leon have collectively hit .387 (12 for 31) since Alfaro was removed in the fourth inning on April 20.
▪ Lewis Brinson, Magneuris Sierra and Adam Duvall have split reps in center field in place of Marte. Brinson and Sierra would be the primary options to replace Dickerson and/or Cooper if either has to miss time.
▪ Isan Diaz reached base three times, drove in a run and scored a run on Wednesday in his first game replacing Chisholm.
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