Edward Cabrera exits early as Marlins drop opener to Rays. Takeaways from the loss
The Miami Marlins’ struggles against the Tampa Bay Rays continue.
The Rays beat the Marlins 4-1 on Tuesday to begin a two-game series at Tropicana Park, continuing both their domination over the Marlins over the past few years and Miami’s overall struggles since returning from the All-Star break.
Miami falls to 54-48 on the season and is now 1-9 in 10 games since the All-Star break. Tampa Bay improves to 62-42.
The Marlins have now lost 10 consecutive road games, five shy of the franchise record set in 2019. They have also lost eight consecutive games against the Rays and 11 of their past 12 against Tampa Bay overall.
Here are three takeaways from the game.
Edward Cabrera exits early
The Marlins were beyond encouraged by right-handed pitcher Edward Cabrera’s first outing back from the injured list on July 18. He threw five solid shutout innings against the St. Louis Cardinals before giving up a solo home run to the first — and only — batter he faced in the sixth inning.
The hope was that Cabrera would build off that outing when he took the mound Tuesday.
The problem with that: Cabrera didn’t stay on the mound long enough to have the chance.
Cabrera pitched just two innings before being removed due to an aggravated blister on his right middle finger.
The blister has been a recurring issue for Cabrera, who has already had two other starts this season impacted by the blister and also dealt with it last season.
“It’s weird,” Marlins manager Skip Schumaker said. “It kind of popped up pretty quick because there was nothing after the St. Louis game or in between starts. Nothing on the report. He was feeling good throwing and playing catch. I don’t think it’s concerning. I think it’s just more frustrating for him and frustrating for us that we can’t get that thing figured out.”
Cabrera gave up three runs on four hits and two walks before exiting, with all of the damage coming in an eight-batter second inning.
“I didn’t want to relinquish the game and give up,” Cabrera said. “I didn’t want to put that weight on the guys. I was trying as best as I could to stay in there.”
Miami’s bullpen held the Rays to just one run while covering six innings. George Soriano pitched 3 1/3 innings, giving up just a solo home run to Brandon Lowe in the sixth. Dylan Floro followed with 1 2/3 shutout innings and Steven Okert pitched a scoreless eighth.
Tyler Glasnow dominates Marlins hitters
At his best, Rays right-handed pitcher Tyler Glasnow can be one of the top pitchers in baseball.
He showed why on Tuesday.
Glasnow pitched seven innings of one-run ball, holding the Marlins to just two hits and two walks for his third consecutive quality start (the other two were against the Kansas City Royals and Baltimore Orioles).
The only run he gave up came when Joey Wendle drew a leadoff walk in the third inning, moved to third after back-to-back groundouts from Jacob Stallings and Jon Berti and scored on a wild pitch.
Glasnow struck out eight of the 24 Marlins batters he faced and induced 17 swings and misses on 53 swings by Miami hitters.
“You know how he’s going to attack you, but it’s about trying to get a pitch in your area and not missing it,” said Berti, who had one of Miami’s two hits against Glasnow. “He did a great job against us.”
Goal now is a series split
The Marlins wrap up their short, two-game series with the Rays at 12:10 p.m. Wednesday. Right-handed pitcher Sandy Alcantara (3-9, 4.70 ERA) will start for the Marlins opposite the Rays’ Zach Eflin (11-5, 3.36).
This story was originally published July 25, 2023 at 9:04 PM.
.JPG)