Marlins’ offense shows what’s possible when pitching holds up
The Miami Marlins’ offense showed what it can look like when it’s pitching gives it room to breathe.
In Wednesday’s 8-0 win against the Arizona Diamondbacks, seven of the nine Marlins players who came to the plate recorded a hit, sparking one of the team’s most complete performances of the season.
While any team would gladly welcome an offensive outburst, scoring hasn’t necessarily been the issue for Miami. The Marlins have two of the league’s top-10 hitters in shortstop Otto Lopez and second baseman Xavier Edwards, along with one of the league’s top 10 run producers in catcher Liam Hicks.
The Marlins’ most glaring struggles have come on the mound, where injuries piled up during the first few months of the season and turned a once-respectable pitching staff into a depleted one after dealing with injuries to starters Eury Pérez, Janson Junk, Robby Snelling and No. 1 pitching prospect Thomas White.
Now having won seven of the last eight games, manager Clayton McCullough pointed to a team that is starting to put all the pieces together.
“We pitched really well. Guys have just stepped up and taken down big outs. When you win multiple series’ in a row, it generally takes clicking in all facets” McCullough said.
Fresh off two disastrous outings, pitcher Ryan Gusto put together his best performance of the season, pitching four scoreless innings while giving up just three hits and striking out four.
Originally called up from Triple A Jacksonville last Tuesday after opening the season with a respectable 4-2 record and 3.83 ERA, Gusto credited the time between outings for helping him settle in and make the necessary adjustments.
“The work with my pitching coaches in between starts was huge,” Gusto said. “We were able to do a lot of quality work on my bullpen. That goes back to the routine that we’re building. With a full five days off, it was really helpful to get a lot of work in between.”
After previously saying Gusto’s shorter outings wouldn’t take away from the workload he had built up in Triple A, McCullough was pleased to see him turn that into four scoreless innings Wednesday.
“His first couple appearances were shorter stints. So tonight to get him the four innings and his pitch count back in the 60s is really nice,” McCullough said. “Really good job by him to give us the chance to take the early lead.”
The Marlins had yet to score when Gusto pitched his final inning, flipping the script for an offense that has often been tasked with digging Miami’s pitching staff out of an early hole.
William Kempner earned the first win of his career after taking over in the seventh inning and pitching a hitless two innings before Cade Gibson closed out the game in the ninth.
Offensively, the game broke open during a six-run fourth inning that featured home runs from outfielder Owen Caissie and designated hitter Kyle Stowers.
Shortstop Otto Lopez went 2 for 5 with two RBI, while catcher Hicks and left fielder Heriberto Hernández each went 2 for 4. Lopez also maintained his spot as the league’s top hitter, raising his batting average to .342.