With offense unable to finish the job, Marlins fall to Pirates in extras

[Kevin Barral]

Opening Day lived up to the hype as the hometown kid Jesús Luzardo struck out eight, free baseball was played, but unfortunately, the Miami Marlins fell to the Pittsburgh Pirates.

MIAMI, FL—Trailing 5-2 in the top of the seventh inning, the Pirates mounted an Opening Day comeback against the Miami Marlins bullpen, ultimately winning 6-5 in extra innings. Andrew Nardi, Sixto Sánchez and Declan Cronin each allowed runs as the game slipped away.

"They put together some good at-bats," said Marlins manager Skip Schumaker about the Pirates following the game. "Some late home runs and they end up winning the game, but we had our chances all game too. We had a lot of guys on base and didn't capitalize, runners on second and third, no outs. A lot of guys on third with one out. Just couldn't push that run across."

Pirates Opening Day starter Mitch Keller gave up five runs (four earned), but the Pirates bullpen ended up only giving up one hit and shut down the Marlins lineup. Following a Jake Burger base hit up the middle in the seventh, the Marlins were held hitless the rest of the way. 

"I thought there were actually a lot of good at-bats," said Schumaker of his own lineup. "Some double play balls, but Burger in the tenth hit the ball as good as you can hit it, but maybe rushing a little bit too much here early in the count the first couple pitches."

Schumaker also unloaded his whole bench, but even then, they went 0-for-4. Nothing worked for the Marlins on a night where they needed big hits in big moments.

Early jitters went out the window after a rocky top of the first inning for Jesús Luzardo in his first career Opening Day start. In front of his hometown crowd, the Marlins lefty went five innings, giving up one run off of two hits, walking two and striking out eight.

"Thought he looked good," said Schumaker. "I thought he got into some deep counts, probably ran out of pitches. Towards the end, through five, he probably had 10 more [pitches] left. Didn't really feel like sending him back out and digging in that part of the order again. Didn't make too much sense with Opening Day with 162 left."

In the top of the first, after a quick pop fly to right field and strikeout, Luzardo got into some trouble giving up a double to Ke'Bryan Hayes and then walking longtime Pirate Andrew McCutchen. Thankfully for Luzardo, Henry Davis lined out to Burger for the final out.

Command was spotty for the Marlins ace, throwing 51 strikes and 34 balls, but he was able to limit the damage to only two hits and two walks. Luzardo found success in the swing-and-miss department, making opposing hitters work, especially early in the count. The Venezuelan lefty ended the night with 18 whiffs on 39 swings. Seven of Luzardo's strikeouts were swinging strikeouts.

Although it did feel like Pirates hitters were a bit aggressive, as early on in the game the Pirates had six whiffs on 16 swings, Luzardo saw it differently. 

"I felt like they were actually pretty patient," said Luzardo, "making me get in the zone and once I did get in the zone, that put them in swing mode. That's when they started swinging and getting more aggressive. Like I said, they did a really good job of forcing us in the zone and not chasing all the way around."

Luzardo's fastball/slider combo with a taste of the changeup worked well for him, primarily the slider which saw 10 whiffs on 13 swings along with six swinging strikeouts. The changeup also had enough movement where it saw five whiffs on seven swings.

The only run that Luzardo gave up was a two-run shot by Bryan Reynolds in the top of the third inning. Luzardo struck out Reynolds in his first at-bat of the game, but the former future Marlin got revenge by taking him 407 feet deep to left field for the first home run of the ballgame. The ball left the bat at 107.5 mph.

Along with Luzardo's strong start, the Marlins offense came out hitting early on. In the bottom of the second inning, Jazz Chisholm Jr. worked a 10-pitch walk and Burger knocked in his first hit of the season, which moved Chisholm to third. With runners on the corners and nobody out, Jesús Sánchez seemed to have grounded into a double play, but after the exchange from Oneil Cruz to second baseman Jared Triolo, he dropped the ball, with everyone being safe and Chisholm scoring.

The only major league signing of the offseason for the Marlins was Tim Anderson, inking a one-year deal worth five million dollars. In his first at-bat of the regular season as a member of the Marlins, he smacked an opposite field RBI single, driving in Burger to make it a 2-0 game. Anderson has spent most of his career hitting near the top of the lineup, but started in the seventh spot in his Marlins debut.

After Jake Burger joined the Marlins at the 2023 trade deadline, his highest RBI total in a single game the rest of the season was three. In the first game of the 2024 season, he's already matched that, going 3-for-4 with three RBIs, driving in Bryan De La Cruz and Jazz Chisholm Jr. in the bottom of the third inning followed by a sac fly driving in Josh Bell in the bottom of the fifth inning. 

After Sixto Sánchez gave up the solo home run to Oneil Cruz, the Marlins and Pirates didn't score a run until the top of the 12th inning, which came on a Jarred Triolo RBI single, driving in Ke'Bryan Hayes. Cruz, who tried to extend that lead, was caught at home.

Declan Cronin, who was picked up off of waivers from the Houston Astros, made the Opening Day roster and gave the Marlins three excellent innings of work despite being charged with the loss.

"I'll do whatever it takes to try to help his team win ballgames," said Cronin after the game. "That's what I talked to Skip about the first day I showed up in spring training. You have to expect the unexpected, you can't check out for a second. Going into this one, it's my first Opening Day, so that in itself was a momentous occasion and I was excited to get in the game. Obviously, came out on the wrong side of it tonight, but it was fun."

The Marlins used all but two of their active relievers in the first game of the season. A.J. Puk, who has never started a MLB game, is starting on Friday for them. Puk takes the mound against experienced veteran Martin Pérez. The Marlins will play at 7:10 p.m., which will be the case every Friday home game, and they will be debuting their redesigned black uniforms.

 

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