Marlins can’t overcome Jesus Luzardo’s rough start in series-opening loss to Cardinals
Everything went right for Jesus Luzardo in the first inning on Tuesday. He needed just 13 pitches to retire the top of the St. Louis Cardinals’ lineup — including consecutive strikeouts of Dylan Carlson and Paul Goldschmidt with his curveball.
After that? Not so much.
Luzardo, attempting to follow up a 12-strikeout performance in his season debut, was tagged for five runs (four earned) and didn’t make it through the fifth inning in the Miami Marlins’ 5-1 loss to the Cardinals at loanDepot park to begin a three-game series.
The Marlins fall to 4-6. The Cardinals are 6-3.
Luzardo allowed seven hits and two walks in the start while striking out just three over 4 1/3 innings.
What went wrong?
“I don’t think it was control at all,” Luzardo said. “Maybe falling into a certain pattern. I definitely left some pitches over the plate, some mistake pitches that should have gone more to the edge, but I felt like I had a pretty good command of my stuff in general.”
The Cardinals logged five of their seven hits against Luzardo’s fastballs — three against the four-seam fastball, five against the slider — and put nine balls in play with an exit velocity of at least 97 mph.
Luzardo’s breaking ball, which resulted in nine strikeouts in his first start of the season on April 12 against the Los Angeles Angels, was not as effective on Tuesday. The Cardinals on Tuesday whiffed on just three of 14 swings against the pitch — a 21-percent rate.
“They definitely probably game planned for it a little bit more,” Luzardo said. “They knew it was coming. ... Definitely something I need to go back to the video and kind of watch and see what I can pick up.”
Now, Luzardo’s defense behind him faltered at times, too.
There was the Jazz Chisholm Jr. fielding error in the second inning when he rushed a throw to first base when Yadier Molina was barely jogging with two outs. The throw went past Garrett Cooper and allowed Paul DeJong to score from second base. DeJong opened the inning with a hard-hit RBI double to the left-field wall to score Albert Pujols, who doubled on a weakly hit ball to shallow right field.
“He definitely had time,” Marlins manager Don Mattingly said of Chisholm’s throw. “It’s one of those that’s just a bad throw. I dont’ think he did anything wrong. He just made a bad throw.”
And there was the Tyler O’Neill hard-hit ground ball through the left side in the third inning that got between Miguel Rojas and Chisholm, who were both on the left side of second base in the shift but neither made a play on the ball. Goldschmidt, who led off the inning with a double, scored on the play for the first of two runs in the frame.
“That ball is impossible to catch,” Rojas said of the O’Neill hit, which had an exit velocity of 108.2 mph. “It’s really hard to get it when he hit it right between us. We’re playing the shift, but we’re not superheroes. It’s really hard. It’s not about communication between us because that’s a ball that’s hit really hard.”
The offense didn’t give him much support either. Cardinals starting pitcher Adam Wainwright kept the Marlins off the board for the first five innings. Miami had just three hits — singles by Jacob Stallings in the second, Joey Wendle in the fourth and Jesus Sanchez in the fifth — and a pair of first-inning walks in that span
“It seemed like when we got down a couple of runs, we got a little impatient with him and got out of the zone a little bit more,” Mattingly said. “He’s a guy that if you go out of the zone, he’s just gonna keep going. It felt like we got a little bit impatient there and in the third and fourth innings.”
Bryan De La Cruz, who replaced starting right fielder Avisail Garcia (upset stomach) in the sixth inning, hit a solo home run to center field with two outs in the sixth inning to break up the shutout.
Wendle, Sanchez and Stallings both had two hits Tuesday.
As a team, Miami went 0 for 6 with runners in scoring position and left eight runners on base.
Pinch-hitting for Jazz Chisholm Jr.
In the sixth inning, Mattingly used right-handed hitter Jorge Soler as a pinch-hitter for lefty Jazz Chisholm Jr. when the Cardinals brought in left-handed pitcher T.J. McFarland from the bullpen with a runner on first base and two outs.
Mattingly said the move was matchup based with the Marlins attempting to make a late rally.
Soler hit into an inning-ending groundout on the first pitch.
“That was just one of those like if I don’t pinch hit, I’m probably doing the wrong thing,” Mattingly said. “Just hard numbers, total extremes on that and really just trying to jumpstart something. We’re down four at that point. They bring in a lefty who’s basically a lefty killer. And we got three righties in a row if we can get on base there. So I thought that was the right spot to use Jorge to try to just basically change the game. And that’s really what we tried to do right there.”
Max Meyer faces Ronald Acuna Jr.
A preview of a potential matchup for years to come unfolded in the minor leagues on Tuesday with the Triple A affiliates for the Marlins and Atlanta Braves facing off.
For the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp: Marlins pitching prospect Max Meyer, the No. 34 prospect in all of baseball according to MLB Pipeline.
For the Gwinnett Stripers: Ronald Acuna Jr., the Braves’ star outfielder who was playing in his first live game since tearing the ACL in his right knee in a game against the Marlins on July 10 last season.
The final result: Acuna went 1 for 3, hitting a double to the wall in right-center field in the third inning. He flew out to center field in the first and grounded out to third base in the fifth.
Overall, Meyer threw 5 2/3 scoreless innings on Tuesday with seven strikeouts while allowing just five baserunners on three hits and two walks. Meyer has a 1.23 ERA (two earned runs allowed over 14 2/3 innings) through his first three starts of the season.
Injury updates
▪ Right-handed pitcher Dylan Floro (right rotator cuff tendinitis) threw one inning of live batting practice (16 pitches) on Sunday. Floro, who was expected, is slated to pitch in an extended spring training game in Jupiter on Wednesday.
▪ Right-handed pitcher Edward Cabrera (right biceps fatigue) is scheduled to start on Thursday for the Single A Jupiter Hammerheads.
▪ Infielder Jose Devers’ throwing progression is up to 90 feet. He is also hitting live batting practice as he recovers from right shoulder impingement syndrome.
This story was originally published April 19, 2022 at 9:44 PM.
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