Photo: Rich Storry / Getty Images Sport / Getty Images
When Spring Training was complete and the roster was made public, analysts, fans, coaches, and players didn't draw it up as it happened during the Marlins first series of the year. It's baseball and out of all sports it's the most unpredictable of them all.
The Pittsburgh Pirates came to town and swept the four-game series leaving Marlins fans hoping for a quick recovery. When we look at the numbers, the most affected area for Miami is the usage of Skip Schumaker’s bullpen totaling 24 innings pitched out of 40 total innings played this weekend. Marlins starters only covered 16 innings of work leaving the bullpen thin as pitchers build up their stamina during the start of the season.
“Our bullpen is absolutely taxed” expressed manager Skip Schumaker after the 9-7 ten innings lost on Sunday. In global Marlins’ pitching drew a 6.08 ERA in 40 innings pitched, allowing 31 runs with 27 of these being earned, gave up 4 homeruns, walking 26 and punching out 48. They are hoping to get back on track this upcoming series against the Los Angeles Angels as rookie Max Meyer takes the mound in game one of the three game series at loanDepotPark. Jesus Luzardo and A.J. Puk are lined up for games two and three.
Offensively Miami totaled 17 runs while placing a batting average of .201 in 144 at bats drawing 14 walks and striking out 38 times. Grounding into doubles plays 7 times during the series also hurt them given the fact that it ended the offensive attack on various occasions.
However, out of any negative situation there are positives to be taken. Highlighting these positives, we saw an incredibly good outing from Jesus Luzardo who struck out eight in five innings pitched and Trevor Rogers struck out six in his first outing in over a year.
Defensively Miami looked good with great catches from centerfielder Jazz Chisholm Jr. Who also hit his 4th career grand slam in the first inning of the Sunday afternoon game. Josh Bell and Jake Burger are performing as advertised, placing batting averages of .286 and .438, respectively. Also, Avisail Garcia hit one over the fence and although he only gathered two hits in 12 at bats, he consistently made solid contact and has remained mentally tough throughout the recent downs he has been experiencing.
Overall, it is time for the Marlins to quickly place this opening series in the books, move ahead and continue to improve as there are still 158 games left in the season. This Monday Miami will host the Angels in a three-game series before heading to the road for the first time in 2024. All the action will be on our airwaves, Fox Sports 940 AM, with Kyle Sielaff and Stephen Strom, do not miss out!