Anthony Bender’s save caps a day of redemption for Miami Marlins’ bullpen
%20(1).JPG "Miami Marlins’ Anthony Bender pitches against the San Francisco Giants during the ninth inning of a baseball game in San Francisco, Saturday, April 9, 2022.")
Anthony Bender was in this spot just a day ago, on the mound for the Miami Marlins with a one-run lead in the ninth inning. It did not go well Friday, the reliever giving up a game-tying home run with Miami eventually falling to the San Francisco Giants in extra innings.
Just under 24 hours later, it looked like a similar outcome was on the horizon. He gave up a leadoff single to Joc Pederson and fell behind in the count to Brandon Crawford when catcher Jacob Stallings and shortstop Miguel Rojas approached him on the mound.
“I was getting a little ahead of myself,” Bender said. “[They told me] to just kind of take a breath, find the strike zone and let my pitches work.”
Mission accomplished. Redemption achieved.
Crawford rolled over on a 3-1 sinker for a double play and then Wilmer Flores grounded out to Rojas at shortstop as the Marlins beat the Giants 2-1 on Saturday at Oracle Park.
That’s the life of a reliever. Success can be fleeting. The moment eludes you one day and you find it the next.
Having a short memory — both in the good and the bad — is paramount. Bender had the latest example of that on Friday and Saturday.
“You’ve got your job to do,” Bender said. “You’ve got to come in ready to rock every day.”
Bender’s scoreless ninth capped a solid game from Miami’s bullpen, which threw four scoreless innings.
Steven Okert, whose career started in San Francisco, struck out all four batters he faced for the win. Cole Sulser got his two required outs. Richard Bleier struck out the side and got redemption of his own when he got Brandon Belt to whiff on a slider low and away one day after Belt hit a home run off him.
It set the stage for Bender, who sealed the game with his first save of the season.
“Everybody bounced back,” Bender said. “That’s how this whole bullpen is going to be from here. We’ve all got each other’s back. You feed off that.”
Playing matchups
With the Marlins facing a left-handed starting pitcher in Carlos Rodon on Saturday, manager Don Mattingly switched up his lineup from Opening Day.
Center fielder Jesus Sanchez was the only left-handed hitter in the starting lineup and he moved down from third to seventh in the order. Brian Anderson replaced Joey Wendle at third, while Jon Berti swapped in for Jazz Chisholm Jr. at second base.
“Just kind of our plan really from the beginning,” Mattingly said. “We’re going to play guys. We’re going to match up.”
While this has been the plan, it doesn’t always mean players will agree with the decisions.
Chisholm, for example, took to social media pregame to express his displeasure of not being in the starting lineup by retweeting a handful of posts on Twitter from Marlins fans who want to see him in the starting lineup. The retweets were undone shortly afterward.
“I don’t expect anyone to be happy [about not starting],” Mattingly said postgame. “I talked to Joey Wendle about it; he told me he wants to play every day, but he understands. None of these situations here are things we didn’t talk about. We talked about this in spring training, how we’re going to mix and match. There’s nothing different that happened today than what we’ve discussed as a ballclub.”
Is this something the Marlins are going to have to address with Chisholm at some point?
“I think we’re good,” Mattingly said.
While the lineup will likely fluctuate on a game-by-game basis throughout the season, that doesn’t mean those on the bench aren’t going to get into games. Mattingly plans to take advantage of the depth and the fact that he doesn’t have to worry about using pinch-hitters because he has the designated hitter spot in the lineup now.
That could mean Wendle pinch-hitting for righties Miguel Rojas or Anderson late and then finishing the game at shortstop or third base. Or righty Bryan De La Cruz doing the same for lefty Sanchez and finishing the game in center field.
“You’re probably not going to see me hit for [Jorge] Soler or Agui [Jesus Aguilar] or Avi [Avisail Garcia], but some of our left-right [options], we’ll try to take advantage of.”
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Jacob Stallings’ value
When the Marlins traded for Stallings in late November, the hope was that acquiring the National League’s reigning Glove Glove catcher would be a benefit for the team’s pitching staff and shore up one of their weaker spots defensively.
Stallings is already showing he has the chance to help more than just behind the plate.
The 32-year-old had an all-around solid performance in the Marlins’ Opening Day, extra-inning loss to the San Francisco Giants, going 2 for 4 with a two-run home run and RBI single in addition to throwing out two runners on the basepaths and helping ace Sandy Alcantara maneuver through a shaky start on the mound.
His home run in the seventh gave the Marlins their first runs of the game. His single sparked a three-run rally in the ninth that temporarily gave Miami the lead until Anthony Bender gave up a game-tying home run in the bottom half of the frame.
So while defense is Stallings’ strength — and one the Marlins plan to lean on a lot this season — having another bat at the bottom of the lineup that can produce would be an added benefit.
“Just worked really hard on that in the offseason,” Stallings said about his offensive approach. “Everybody wants to hit. [You can] be the best defender in the league, it’s not fun going out there and not helping your team win offensively. So to get us back in the game and help the team — we’ve got a really good lineup — anything I can contribute is going to be helpful.”
Before his offense showed up on Friday, he made a couple key contributions defensively. He got Alcantara out of a first-inning jam when he picked off Darin Ruf on second base. According to Statcast, Stallings’ throw on the pickoff was clocked at 81.8 mph, which would rank in the 95th percentile of catchers, and his pop time (the time it takes a catcher to make a throw to second base after the ball hits his glove) was 1.94 seconds.
He also caught Mike Yastrzemski trying to steal in the fifth inning.
“Everything he does behind the plate you like,” Mattingly said. “This guy’s going to be ready for games, he’s going to block, he’s going to throw. He’s not going to have that same cannon-type arm, but it’s going to be quick. It’s going to be accurate. He’s going to be good for us. We can already see that.”
Injury updates
▪ Left-handed relief pitcher Sean Guenther, already on the 60-day injured list, underwent Tommy John surgery on Thursday. Dr. Neil ElAttrache performed the operation. Guenther will not pitch this season.
▪ Floro, on the 10-day IL with right rotator cuff tendinitis, threw a 25-pitch bullpen session on Thursday in San Francisco. The right-handed pitcher is projected to be the Marlins’ closer when he returns to the active roster.
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