Could late home run help Miami Marlins’ Garrett get out of funk? Cooper hopes so
The ball left Garrett Cooper’s bat, and it felt good. The Miami Marlins’ slugging first baseman got hold of a middle-away changeup from Colorado Rockies starter Austin Gomber and watched as it sailed into right field for a two-run home run Tuesday.
Even in a 5-4 loss, it was a needed moment for Cooper on what so far has a trying road trip — both for the team as a whole and for Cooper individually.
The Marlins are 1-4 midway at the halfway mark of this 10-day run that started in San Francisco and will end in Anaheim with three games against the Los Angeles Angels once they’re done in Denver.
Cooper specifically has been flailing at the plate. Prior to the home run, Cooper had gone just 1 for 18 with seven strikeouts since the road trip began. The one hit was a double on Monday in the series opener against Colorado. He was thrown out trying to advance to third on a ball in the dirt shortly afterward.
Overall, Cooper is hitting just .167 (6 for 36) with 12 strikeouts in 39 plate appearances in nine games since returning from a two-week injured list stint due to an inner-ear infection. Three of those six hits came in his first two games back.
“You go through bad stretches and you try to do everything you can before getting ready for the games,” Cooper said postgame Tuesday. “Just trying to get my footing back coming off the IL. It’s an up and down year. Going through the downs, it’s not fun. Put together a couple good at-bats tonight. That felt good moving forward.”
Cooper is one of the primary bats in the heart of the Marlins’ lineup from whom they need consistent production. He is third on the team with 17 RBI and has 10 total extra-base hits (five doubles, one triple, four home runs) in 33 games.
As for what Cooper is seeing from the team as a whole as they try to snap this slide?
“We’re battling,” he said. “Offensively, we’re not coming up with a big hit. It’s just part of the ups and downs of the year. ... All it takes is one game to change it.”
Five games into this road trip, the Marlins offense has struggled to get hits in key situations.
They are 7 for 39 (.179) with runners in scoring position and have left 38 runners on base. Miami entered the road trip hitting .244 with runners in scoring position.
Has Marlins manager Skip Schumaker noticed anything different with his team lately?
“I think there are some we’re swinging out of the zone a little bit and forcing it,” Schumaker said. “Other times, guys have made some good plays. I think there’s a combination of things happening, but I think when you’re trying to force it and make it happen is when you get in trouble. It’s not lack of trying or lack of effort or being too tight. I think there’s plenty of effort and plenty of preparation.”
Soler’s production
Jorge Soler’s solo home run in the first inning on Tuesday was his 13th of the season through 47 games played. It matches his home run total from last season, when he played 72 games.
The 13 home runs are tied for fifth in MLB and he is one of just four players with at least 13 home runs and 10 doubles (also the Red Sox’s Rafael Devers, Braves’ Matt Olson and White Sox’s Luis Robert).
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