Take 10: Winless no more

[Louis Addeo-Weiss]

Ten games, ten runs and one rain delay later, the Marlins finally held on to collect their first win of the 2024 season.

The last time the Miami Marlins won a regular season game, they celebrated on the infield of PNC Park after clinching an NL Wild Card spot on September 30, 2023. That was 190 days ago.

Even after storming out to a 6-0 lead in the top of the first on the strength of Jazz Chisholm Jr. and Nick Gordon three-run home runs, any suspicion felt by fans and followers of a club off to a franchise-worst 0-9 start was understandably merited. 

Fortunately, for Miami's sake, Max Meyer did everything to quell the doubters.

En route to his first career Major League win, and making just his fourth career appearance, Meyer held the Cardinals to just 1 run and 3 hits over 6 innings, also collecting his first quality start in the process as the Marlins finally secured their first win of the season, beating the Cardinals, 10-3.

Meyer opened the afternoon retiring the first 13 hitters in order before a Nolan Gorman home run that fell out of the glove of center fielder Chisholm snapped the skid. Meyer also became the club's first starter to reach the 6-inning mark in 2024. In two starts for the team this season, the 25-year-old boasts a 2.45 ERA, limiting opponents to a measly .132 batting average. 

"Max was the real story today," noted manager Skip Schumaker. "He just has a ninth-inning mentality for a starter...and he has a real bright future with this ballclub."

Speaking on the team finally snapping the season-opening skid, Schumaker, visibly relieved, noted it "nice to finally give those guys in there something to smile about."

Though he allowed 7 runs through his first two innings of work, St. Louis' Kyle Gibson still managed to deliver 6 innings to his hometown club. Since debuting in 2013, Gibson's 8 outings of at least 5 innings pitched and 7 runs allowed are tied with teammate Lance Lynn for the most among active pitchers. 

After setting a new-season high with their 8th run of the day in the seventh, Miami added a two-spot in the top of the 8th to secure their first double-digit scoring game of the season, with the club's tenth run scoring on a Jake Burger sacrifice fly that wrapped up a two-home run, four-RBI welcome home weekend for the St. Louis native. 

Holding a commanding 9-run lead entering the bottom of the ninth, the rain that had commenced the inning prior intensified to the point that tarps were drawn, resulting in a one-hour rain delay.

Miami's first win which had so long eluded them, would have to wait.

Once the tarp came off and the field was deemed suitable for play at 5:20 ET, Matt Andriese—working in his first big league game since 9/27/21—worked around Gorman's second home run of the day as Miami wrapped up a 10-3 victory to exit St. Louis winless no more.

 

Looking Ahead

From the Midwest to the Big Apple, Miami will travel to the Bronx to begin a series against the AL East-leading New York Yankees (8-2). In what was originally set to be a 2:05 EST start, the game was pushed back to 6:05 in response to Monday's solar eclipse.

Game 1 will see a matchup of southpaws, as Jesús Luzardo (0-1, 4.35 ERA) will look for redemption against a Yankees team that accounted for Luzardo's worst outing of the 2023 season. In just 3.1 innings on August 11, the Bronx Bombers tagged Luzardo for 9 hits and 7 runs, resulting in a season-worst 15 game score. New York will counter with 2022 AL All-Star Nestor Cortes (0-1, 6.30 ERA).

 

Of Note

- Meyer's 64 game score Sunday registered as the best such mark from a Marlins starter thus far in 2024, beating out Luzardo's mark of 61 set back on Opening Day.

- With his 4-hit day in the victory, Luis Arraez's 14 such games since debuting in 2019 are fourth-most in baseball in baseball in that span. 

- News broke midgame of the Marlins' decision this past offseason to void the 2025 club option for Skip Schumaker. The reigning NL Manager of the Year, Schumaker is set to become a free agent at the end of the 2024 season.

 

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