Paul Campbell’s first MLB start one to forget in Miami Marlins’ loss to Nationals
It was his first career MLB start after making his first four appearances with the Miami Marlins as a long reliever out of the bullpen.
But the results were still lackluster for Paul Campbell in Miami’s 7-2 loss to the Washington Nationals on Saturday. The Marlins are now 11-15 and have lost six of nine games on this three-city road trip, which concludes Sunday. The Nationals improve to 11-12.
Saturday was just the second time the Marlins lost a game by at least five runs. Thirteen of their 15 losses have been decided by no more than three runs.
Campbell, a Rule 5 Draft selection in December listed as the Marlins’ No. 27 overall prospect by MLB Pipeline, gave up five runs (four earned) on nine hits while striking out four over 3 2/3 innings. He threw 71 pitches, 49 of which went for strikes.
The Marlins’s offense did little to help Campbell. They were held to four hits and scored their only runs on a Jesus Aguilar solo home run in the sixth inning — his sixth in eight games — and an Isan Diaz sacrifice fly in the seventh.
“He wasn’t awful,” Marlins manager Don Mattingly said of Campbell. “I don’t think we helped him a lot. He’s really doing the best he can.”
He minimized damage in the first two innings, giving up just one run in the first despite loading the bases with one out and just one more in the second despite giving up hits to three of the first four he faced.
It all unraveled in the fourth, when he gave up a two-run home run to Yan Gomes and was pulled three batters later with a runner on second and two outs.
Ross Detwiler allowed the inherited run to score after allowing back-to-back walks to Yadiel Hernandez and Kyle Schwarber before giving up a bases-clearing double to Josh Bell to cap a five-run inning.
Through five big-league appearances, Campbell has an 8.74 ERA over 11 1/3 innings with 13 strikeouts. He is allowing an average of 2.21 walks and hits per inning.
“I did my best to execute pitches and some fell in,” Campbell said. “That’s a good team on the other side, so you’ve got to give credit to them, but it’s a learning experience.”
A tough learning experience at that.
As a Rule 5 selection, Campbell has to stay on the big-league roster the entire season with the exception of stints on the injured list. He can’t be optioned to the minor leagues without being offered back to the Tampa Bay Rays, the team who the Marlins took him from in December.
Campbell’s biggest lesson learned so far?
“Just to keep my composure, keep my head in the game at all times, learn to slow down just a smidge,” Campbell said. “I think it’s extremely important to be on every pitch, especially at this level.”
Campbell never pitched above the Double A level in the minors before making the jump to the big leagues this year. His development, as a result, is coming while the Marlins need to actually get results from him.
“It’s not easy,” Mattingly said. “We’ve seen some of our better prospects come up over the last year or so and seen them struggle. It’s not an easy league. That’s usually the reason you need X amount of at-bats or X amount of innings to get more experience. You have a guy now [in Campbell] that has to learn here when the game’s on the line and you’re trying to win. It’s a tough spot, but obviously it’s a decision we made as an organization that we’ll go forward with this. It’s just kind of where we’re at right now.”
This and that
▪ Aguilar has hits in nine of his past 10 games.
▪ Diaz has been given an intentional walk in each of his first three games this season. He is the fifth player in Marlins history to be intentionally walked in three consecutive games. The others: Carlos Delgado, Giancarlo Stanton, Miguel Cabrera (3 times) and Gary Sheffield. Delgado holds the franchise record with four consecutive games with an intentional walk from September 20-23, 2005.
▪ Right-handed pitcher Jordan Holloway, the Marlins’ No. 22 overall prospect, has impressed so far this season. The 24-year-old has thrown seven scoreless innings over four outings with seven strikeouts while allowing just two hits and one walk. The club views him a starter but his effectiveness out of the bullpen is something to monitor.
This story was originally published May 1, 2021 at 4:04 PM.
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