Trevor Rogers has career night with a pair of milestones to lead Marlins over Phillies
Trevor Rogers made his way to the mound in the eighth inning on Wednesday, looking to add to a start already filled with highlights and preserve the Miami Marlins’ two-run lead.
“It’s a little bit of uncharted territory for me,” said Rogers, who had never thrown more than seven innings to that point in his young MLB career.
It started rough. He walked leadoff batter Odubel Herrera on four pitches — “can’t happen,” Rogers relented — and then gave up a single to Ronald Torreyes to put the go-ahead run at the plate. His pitch count was at 95 at that point. Time was running out to correct the mistake.
Three pitches later, Rogers got Brad Miller to hit an 86.7 mph changeup on the ground to Jazz Chisholm Jr., who turned the Marlins’ third double play of the night and allowed Rogers to walk off the mound with peace of mind. Yimi Garcia came in and recorded the final four outs to secure the Marlins’ 3-1 win over the Phillies, although the night ended with a breath-holding, near walk-off from Philadelphia catcher Andrew Knapp, whose flyball to right-center died at the warning track and in Magneuris Sierra’s glove.
But Rogers, as he has in almost every start this season, put the Marlins (19-23) in position to win at Citizens Bank Park on Wednesday.
The 23-year-old Rogers held the Phillies (22-21) to one run on five hits and two walks over a career-long 7 2/3 innings of work Wednesday night. He improved to 6-2 on the season and his ERA dropped to 1.74.
“Rogers has been amazing,” said shortstop Miguel Rojas, who scored a run in the fifth and made a diving grab on a low line drive from Andrew McCutchen in the eighth to strand a runner at third base. “When you see him pitch, you see his focus. He’s locked in every time. ... Success is good, but we know this game is pretty tough. When you have a guy like him that competes when he takes the mound, you want a guy like him pitching for you.
Rogers hit a pair of milestones in the win as well.
Rogers’ fifth-inning strikeout of Herrera — his fourth of eight overall in the game — was the 100th of his career. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Rogers is the seventh left-handed pitcher since 1982 to reach 100 strikeouts in his first 16 career starts. The others: Francisco Liriano, Cole Hamels, Hector Santiago, Tony Cingrani, Chris Sale and Matt Moore.
He is also the fastest starting pitcher in Marlins franchise history to reach the 100 strikeout mark, doing so in 76 2/3 innings. The only two Marlins players to accomplish the feat faster — Kyle Barraclough (66 innings) and Drew Steckenrider (73.2 innings) — were relief pitchers.
“It’s a big milestone,” Rogers said. “Just blessed to keep competing every day. ... This is just the beginning.”
Rogers also recorded his first career MLB hit, a seventh-inning single slapped to the left side of the infield against former Marlins reliever Brandon Kintzler that loaded the bases with no outs. He came close to recording his first hit an at-bat earlier, but Phillies first baseman Rhys Hoskins snared Rogers’ low line drive in the fifth.
But Wednesday almost feels routine for Rogers at this point in the season. He has thrown at least six innings while giving up no more than one earned run in five of his nine starts this season. He is one of four pitchers with at least six wins this year, joining a list that includes Jack Flaherty, Clayton Kershaw and Julio Urias. His 1.74 ERA is the fifth-best in MLB. His 11.32 strikeouts per nine inning are the 10th-best in the league.
“It feels like they’re all pretty dang good for the most part,” Marlins manager Don Mattingly said.
He also received enough help from his offense on Wednesday. Brian Anderson hit a solo home run in the second, Adam Duvall scored Rojas with an RBI single in the sixth, and Jazz Chisholm Jr. scored Garrett Cooper with a bases-loaded infield single in the seventh — one at-bat after Rogers recorded his first hit.
Garcia recorded the final four outs for his eighth save of the season.
This story was originally published May 19, 2021 at 10:08 PM.
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