Takeaways as Braxton Garrett leads the way in Marlins’ shutout win over the Brewers
The entire second half of the season has been uncharted territory for Braxton Garrett. With each passing start, the Miami Marlins’ 26-year-old left-handed pitcher is going deeper into a season than he ever has before.
And yet, over the past six weeks, Garrett has seemingly only gotten better.
His latest clutch effort came Wednesday, when Garrett threw six scoreless innings as the Marlins shut out the Milwaukee Brewers 2-0 on Wednesday at American Family Field — a much-needed win after dropping the first two games of the series as Miami aims to stay in the hunt for a playoff spot with 16 games left to play.
The Marlins, who had won eight of 10 games before falling 12-0 on Monday and 3-1 on Tuesday, improve to 75-71 on the season. The Brewers fall to 81-64.
“I just harp on my competitiveness,” Garrett said. “I’ve really learned to trust my stuff in the zone, not being a hard-throwing guy with putaway stuff all the time. I’ve just been happy with the confidence. It’s grown. And being in these games late in the season, I’ve never been in a playoff push before. I felt the pressure today. I think that’s awesome. It felt good to pitch well in a game we felt like we needed to win.”
Garrett held Milwaukee to just four hits and two walks while striking out seven. He eliminated two of the baserunners with double plays.
Wednesday marked the sixth time in his past nine starts that Garrett has pitched six innings. In those nine starts, Garrett has pitched to a 2.36 ERA (13 earned runs over 49 2/3 innings) with 36 strikeouts against 11 walks.
“It does feel like he’s getting stronger now,” Marlins manager Skip Schumaker said. “Everybody hits that point in the season where they don’t feel great. Their body doesn’t feel great. Something doesn’t feel great. We’re in the middle of September. Probably everybody in there has something going on that they don’t feel 100 percent. Our pitchers are feeling it. There’s not doubt,so from Brax to give us six innings was huge.”
David Robertson, Andrew Nardi and Tanner Scott combined to pitch the final three innings out of the bullpen, with Scott earning his eighth save of the season.
The Marlins scored their two runs on an Xavier Edwards RBI single in the fifth against Colin Rea and a Garrett Hampson RBI double against Bryse Wilson in the seventh.
Here are three takeaways from the game.
Marlins find ways to win when Braxton Garrett starts
With the win on Wednesday, the Marlins are now 20-8 this season in games that Garrett has started. This includes an 18-4 record when he pitches at least five innings and a 7-2 mark in his nine quality starts (pitching at least six innings while allowing no more than three earned runs).
“He gives us a chance to win,” Schumaker said. “So that makes a lot of sense because we always feel like we’re in the game [when Garrett pitches].”
Garrett has held opponents to one earned run or less in 15 starts this season. That’s the second-most by a left-handed starting pitcher in Marlins history, behind only Dontrelle Willis, who had 18 in 2005.
Jazz Chisholm Jr. exits with injury
Marlins center fielder Jazz Chisholm Jr. exited the game in the fourth inning with right knee discomfort.
Chisholm sustained the injury running out a groundball on what was ultimately an inning-ending double play. According to Statcast, Chisholm had a sprint speed of 29.8 feet per second — just shy of MLB’s threshold of 30 that is considered “elite.”
“I ran through the bag and was giving my stuff to [first base coach] Jon Jay. I started walking off and felt some uncomfortable feeling in my knee,” Chisholm said. “I just didn’t want to go out there and risk it. It’s too close to the playoffs to go out there and risk it. I came in and got it checked up on. I’m feeling pretty good now.”
Hampson moved from shortstop to center field to replace Chisholm and Joey Wendle entered at shortstop for the remainder of the game.
Chisholm has already dealt with an assortment of injuries this season, going on the injured list twice for turf toe in his right foot and a left oblique strain.
On the season, Chisholm is hitting .251 with 16 home runs, 40 RBI, 39 runs scored and a team-high 19 stolen bases in 83 games played.
Where things stand in the playoff race
The National League wild card race got a little tighter on Wednesday.
The Philadelphia Phillies, Chicago Cubs and Arizona Diamondbacks — the three teams who entered Wednesday in the three wild card spots — all lost.
Meanwhile, the three teams still in the hunt but outside of a playoff spot — the Marlins, Cincinnati Reds and San Francisco Giants — all won Wednesday.
With that, here’s a look at the standings through Wednesday.
▪ The Phillies (79-67) still remain in the top wild card spot.
▪ The Cubs (78-69) are second in the wild card standings, one-and-a-half games behind the Phillies.
▪ The Diamondbacks and Reds (76-71) are tied for the third wild card spot, three-and-a-half games back of the Phillies and two games behind the Cubs.
▪ The Giants and Marlins (both 75-71) are a half-game behind the Diamondbacks.
This story was originally published September 13, 2023 at 10:18 PM.
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