Game Thread: Marlins vs. Pirates, 3/28 @ 4:10pm ET

[Ely Sussman]

And...here...we...go. Welcome to FOF's first Miami Marlins game thread of the 2024 season!

SuperSubs can access exclusive game notes here.

The staff and I will be livestreaming leading up to first pitch, as will be the case prior to every Marlins series opener.

Enjoy live on-site coverage via Kevin Barral, Noah Berger and Danis Sosa (photos).

[TheYearOfTheFish]

Ready to go swimming with the fish in 2024 🐟🐟🐟

[TheYearOfTheFish]

Tough loss. Unfortunate to have lost the opening home game. This one loss is bound to drive away this lousy, bandwagon fan base. Marlins will have to bounce back tomorrow.

Some observations on the loss:

Took out Luzardo an inning too early. He was doing fairly well despite some struggles in the game. However, it was still early enough that he could have pitched at least another inning. By taking Luzardo out when they did - it put the Marlins in a less-than-ideal situation as they went into their bullpen. One more inning from Luzardo and the Marlins could better dictate how to use their bullpen.

For Sixto, I was hoping his first outing after being away for so long - would have been a much softer landing. I didn't think bringing Sixto in with the game still in the balance was the best situation for him or the team.

I love Skip and he usually does a great job of managing games, but this was just a poor performance from him tonight.

As for bench usage, I won't jump on the bandwagon of attacking Garcia or certain guys not executing in the 9th/extras. In fact, I'm not in the bandwagon of attacking Garcia at all.

If Luzardo/the bullpen is managed differently - the outcome might be different.

A chance to bounce back tomorrow.