A Jazz injury scare, Luzardo gem and clutch offense: How Marlins got first series win
Bryan De La Cruz was only in the Miami Marlins’ lineup in the eighth inning Wednesday because of an injury scare in the first. Jazz Chisholm Jr., after an attempted steal gone awry in the first inning, was out of the game with a stinger in his right shoulder, so De La Cruz came to the plate with a runner in scoring position and a chance to win the game, and the Marlins’ first series of the year.
The outfielder waited out a pair of pitches until Caleb Thielbar finally left one over the middle of the plate. It was exactly what De La Cruz wanted and he slapped it into left field for the game-winning single in a 5-2 win, series-clinching win against the Minnesota Twins in Miami.
A day that started with a major scare ended with the Marlins’ first winning streak of the young 2023 MLB season, thanks to some clutch hitting in the eighth and another gem from starting pitcher Jesus Luzardo.
“Whatever it takes to win that day, you try to do,” manager Skip Schumaker said.
Altogether, it made for a good ending to an up-and-down season-opening homestand in South Florida. Miami lost four of its first five games of the season and has still only scored 16 runs, but the Marlins have now won two in a row, seem to have a dynamic 1-2 punch atop their starting rotation and might not miss Chisholm for too long, either — a positive development given how much pain he appeared to be in after he collided with Twins infielder Kyle Farmer on a headfirst slide into second base in the first inning. By the end of the game, Schumaker already had a text from Chisholm assuring the first-year manager he’d be back in the lineup Thursday.
Chisholm’s injury quickly cast a pall over the 8,981 at loanDepot park. After only his fourth hit of the season, Chisholm tried his first steal of the year, but mistimed his jump, and Minnesota starting pitcher Pablo Lopez nailed him at second base. On the slide, Chisholm bumped his head, neck and left shoulder into Farmer’s left leg, and felt a surge through his right arm. The Bahamian superstar struggled to get off the ground for a few moments and flexed his right hand after he finally stood up. He never returned, replaced by De La Cruz in center field for the final eight innings.
“It was the first time I ever experienced anything like that,” said Chisholm, who was not tested for a concussion, but was still feeling some lingering effects from the stinger after the game. “I’m good until I’m not, so I’m going to be on the field until I can’t play on the field anymore.”
A few hours later, De La Cruz delivered the decisive hit after Luzardo kept Miami afloat through a low-scoring game.
On Tuesday before Luzardo and Lopez squared off, Lopez sent a text to his former teammate: “Let’s make it a pitchers’ duel,” it read, Luzardo said.
After the three-game series wrapped up Wednesday, Luzardo responded: “We made it a pitchers’ duel.”
Lopez, who was the Marlins’ No. 2 starter last year, went seven innings and gave up three hits, one walk and one run with eight strikeouts. Luzardo, who’s succeeding Lopez as Miami’s No. 2 starter, matched him for seven innings, giving up five hits, one walk and one run with 10 strikeouts.
Seven spectacular innings from Luzardo kept the score tied at 1-1 into the eighth inning — a solo home run by outfielder Jorge Soler, just a few minutes after Chisholm got picked off, was all Miami managed against Lopez in the right-handed pitcher’s first start against his former team — and De La Cruz came up with a game-winning RBI single in the bottom of the frame.
Although the offense was been sporadic and often nonexistent through the first week of the season, the Marlins’ starting pitching is finally coming around to what they expected at the start of the year. On Tuesday, All-Star starting pitcher Sandy Alcantara needed just 100 pitches, and less than two hours, to fire a three-hitter and beat the Twins, and Luzardo was similarly excellent in beating Minnesota (4-2) on Wednesday.
Luzardo, anchored to an early 1-0 lead thanks to a first-inning solo home run by Jorge Soler, didn’t let a runner get into scoring position until the sixth and only finally gave up a run in the top of the seventh to the penultimate batter he faced. The left-handed pitcher threw 70 of his 99 pitches for strikes and only gave up two batted balls with an exit velocity over 100 mph. His ERA is now 0.71 through two starts, giving up just one run in 13 2/3 innings.
“He’s ready to take the next step in his career,” Schumaker said.
His performance let Miami pull out a win against the Twins’ bullpen. In the bottom of the eighth, the Marlins strung together a rally with back-to-back singles by infielders Jean Segura and Jon Berti, and De La Cruz came to the plate with two outs and a runner in scoring position.
He came through with the clutch at-bat to put Miami up 2-1, then Soler, the next batter, added some insurance with his second home run of the game to bust open a 5-1 lead. After a shaky start to their season, the Marlins will go on the road with a chance to get to .500 for the first time Thursday.
Up next
Miami begins its first road trip of the season when it faces the New York Mets on Friday at Citi Field. It’s Opening Day for the Mets (3-4) in New York after MLB postponed. The game was originally scheduled for Thursday before it was preemptively postponed because of weather.
It’s a two-city trip for the Marlins, with three games in Queens — with a day off Friday — and then three against the Phillies in Philadelphia, followed by another off day. Miami won’t be back home until April 14.
Starting pitcher Edward Cabrera will make his second start of the season for Miami to kick off the road trip, facing Mets pitcher Tylor Megill.
This story was originally published April 5, 2023 at 1:37 PM.
