Marlins’ Jazz Chisholm Jr. leaves loss to Brewers in first with hamstring injury
Miami Marlins rookie middle infielder Jazz Chisholm Jr. was removed after the top of the first inning of Tuesday’s 5-4 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers at American Family Field with a strained left hamstring. Jose Devers, who made his MLB debut Saturday, replaced Chisholm at second base for the bottom of the first inning.
Marlins manager Don Mattingly said postgame that Chisholm’s hamstring cramped up when he stole second base but did not provide specifics on the severity of the injury or if Chisholm will miss any time. The Marlins close their three-game series with the Brewers at 1:40 p.m. Wednesday and then have an off day Thursday before playing a three-game series with the Washington Nationals to close out their 10-game road trip.
“The game just ended so I haven’t had the chance to to get together with [general manager] Kim [Ng] and [assistant general manager] Dan [Greenlee] who are here,” Mattingly said. “You talk through it, see where his leg’s at. I don’t know if something that we can wait on and see what it looks like tomorrow, if it is a cramp or not, but it’s probably something to be cautious. I’m not in position to make that decision right now.”
What will the Marlins do should Chisholm be sidelined?
“Well,” Mattingly said, “we just replace him.”
Their options are pretty slim right now, considering the Marlins had been dealing with a bevy of injuries even before Chisholm got hurt.
They are missing starting center fielder Starling Marte (fractured left rib), third baseman Brian Anderson (left oblique strain) and catcher Jorge Alfaro (left hamstring strain). Four starting pitchers — Elieser Hernandez, Sixto Sanchez, Edward Cabrera and Jorge Guzman — are dealing with various arm injuries.
Utility player Jon Berti has started seven consecutive games at third base with Anderson out. Adam Duvall is now looking like the Marlins’ primary center fielder with Corey Dickerson and Garrett Cooper in the corner outfield spots. Lewis Brinson and Magneuris Sierra are the other outfielders on the roster.
The Marlins added Devers, their No. 8 overall prospect according to MLB Pipeline, to the active roster on Thursday to start their three-city, 10-game road trip after placing Anderson on the injured list. Devers went 0 for 3 on Tuesday but made hard contact in two of his at-bats.
Isan Diaz, who started the season at the alternate training site, is with the team on the taxi squad and could be added to the roster should Chisholm go on the injured list.
“With the group of guys we have,” 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.
Chisholm made his way around the bases in the first inning to give the Marlins an early 1-0 lead. He led off the game with a first-pitch infield single, beating out a throw from a routine ground ball to Brewers shortstop Luis Urias. Chisholm had a sprint speed of 30.1 feet per second on the run to first (30 feet per second is considered elite).
He stole second one pitch later, getting under a tag from second baseman Pablo Reyes, and advanced to third on a Miguel Rojas groundout to first base before scoring on a Jesus Aguilar sacrifice fly. Chisholm stayed down momentarily after stealing second but looked fine afterward.
“He ran pretty good from third to home on the sac fly,” Mattingly said. “We didn’t notice a big jump or anything ... but when you say your hamstring tightened up, you’re going to be cautious right away.”
Chisholm, who has been the Marlins’ leadoff hitter for the last seven games, is hitting .290 with four home runs, seven RBI and 11 runs scored. His seven stolen bases are the most in the National League and trail just Kansas City’s Whit Merrifield and Oakland’s Ramon Laureano, both of whom has swiped eight bases.
“You hate to see it happen,” Berti said. “Jazz has been so good for us to start the season. Hopefully he’ll be back in there tomorrow or the next day.”
Game recap
The Brewers’ Tyrone Taylor went 3 for 4 and three RBI to pave the way for Milwaukee.
He homered off Daniel Castano in the second, had an RBI groundout against John Curtiss in the fourth and recorded an RBI single against Adam Cimber in the sixth.
Brewers pitcher Adrian Houser also hit a solo home run off Castano, who threw just 3 1/3 innings.
In addition to Chisholm scoring in the first, the Marlins scored on solo home runs from Aguilar and Berti. Berti also scored on a wild pitch.
This story was originally published April 27, 2021 at 8:08 PM.
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