Marlins once again lose a starting pitcher to injury in Pirates series. Where things stand
So, that full-strength starting pitching rotation the Marlins finally had on Thursday afternoon? That didn’t last long.
Elieser Hernandez went back on the injured list prior to Friday’s game against the Pittsburgh Pirates with a right ankle strain sustained on the basepaths in the sixth inning of Thursday’s loss to the Pirates to begin the four-game series.
Hours later, Cody Poteet, a pleasant surprise in his first four MLB starts as he held down another back-end rotation spot, exited Friday’s 9-2 loss — the team’s seventh consecutive defeat — in the third inning with a right MCL sprain, an injury that will require an IL stint.
“I don’t know a lot about it. It doesn’t sound very good when you hear those words used,” Marlins manager Don Mattingly said postgame. “... It’ll be an IL. To what degree, [we don’t know yet]. There’s no testing that would have gotten done between him coming out and now.”
Mattingly said the injury occurred after Poteet threw a warmup pitch following an on-field delay for a review. Poteet gestured at his right leg when manager Don Mattingly and head athletic trainer Gene Basham consulted with him on the mound. He was removed after throwing one more warmup pitch in an attempt to see if he could play through it.
The message Poteet relayed to Mattingly: “It hurts, but I’m OK.”
“That kind of made that decision pretty easy,” Mattingly said postgame.
Poteet had given up three earned runs on two hits and four walks while striking out two over 2 2/3 innings.
Adam Cimber (one run allowed in 1 1/3 innings), Ross Detwiler (one inning), Zach Pop (five runs allowed in one inning), John Curtiss (one scoreless inning) got the Marlins through the seventh after Poteet’s early exit. Catcher Sandy Leon, who had two hits and a walk at the plate, threw a scoreless eighth inning.
In 24 innings since making his MLB debut on May 12, Poteet has a 3.75 ERA with 21 strikeouts against eight walks. Opponents were hitting .184 against him.
As for Hernandez, he’s back on the injured list after suffering a right quad strain running from third to home in the sixth inning. He was solid on the mound before the injury, holding Pittsburgh to one run on three hits over five innings of work. He struck out six batters and didn’t allow a walk. Of his 68 pitches, 49 were strikes.
Thursday was Hernandez’s first start since April 3 when he suffered a right biceps injury that resulted in him missing two months.
“He’s in a pretty good amount of pain today,” Mattingly said pregame Friday. “I think they’ve left him at the hotel, just having trouble moving around. He left on crutches last night. ... Obviously it’s more than 10 days, and we’ll see how it progresses as we go.”
The Marlins recalled outfielder Lewis Brinson with Hernandez sidelined. The Marlins will not need the fifth starting pitcher until Tuesday, so Mattingly opted to add an extra bat to his bench in the interim.
Marlins’ options
While the Marlins have starters lined up for the final three games of this road trip — Trevor Rogers on Saturday, Sandy Alcantara on Sunday and Pablo Lopez on Monday — they are going to need to once again find pitchers to fill out two spots in the rotation.
And Mattingly anticipated the Marlins will turn to the “cast of characters” they have used previously to shore up these spots, but even those options are slim at this point.
Miami’s only healthy options on the 40-man roster are lefties Braxton Garrett and Daniel Castano. Garrett threw five shutout innings for the Triple A Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp on Friday, which would slot him in to fill Poteet’s spot on regular rest. Castano threw six innings on Tuesday for Jacksonville, giving up two runs on six hits and two walks.
Nick Neidert and Jordan Holloway are on the 10-day IL with right biceps inflammation and a right groin strain, respectively. Jorge Guzman is on the 60-day IL.
Sixto Sanchez (right shoulder) experienced a setback in his rehab after beginning bullpen sessions. Edward Cabrera (right biceps nerve inflammation) most recently threw two innings in an extended spring training game on Tuesday.
This story was originally published June 4, 2021 at 8:51 PM.
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