Marlins' offensive woes continue in series-opening loss

[Kevin Barral]

Despite matching the class of the National League East in hits, the Miami Marlins were shut out for the second time in 2024.

In their attempt to win back-to-back games for the first time in 2024, the Miami Marlins had to take on the division rival Atlanta Braves. For the first of three games, the Marlins summoned Ryan Weathers. Coming into Monday night's matchup, the Braves had won five out of their last six games since last facing the Marlins and they would extend that to six out of seven, defeating the Marlins by a final score of 3-0.

Coming off a ten-strikeout performance against the San Francisco Giants, Ryan Weathers only struck out one against the hot-hitting Braves. In his 5 ⅔ innings pitched, Weathers gave up three runs off of six hits and walked three. Compared to his last start, he wasn't able to get hitters to bite. Against the Giants, Weathers generated 19 whiffs, but on Monday against Atlanta, he generated only six.

Weathers went away from his sweeper this go-around, using it 13% of the time compared to 34% last Tuesday. Against the Braves, the Tennessee native went with the changeup/fastball combo. His lone strikeout of the game came on the fastball, getting Austin Riley to swing and miss in the bottom of the fifth inning.

The damage against Weathers occurred in the bottom of the fourth inning. He surrendered a two-run homer on a changeup to Travis d'Arnaud, making it a 2-0 ballgame. The third run of the game would be a David Fletcher RBI single, driving in Adam Duvall, who Weathers had walked.

 

Offensive Woes in Truist

The top of the first inning would mark the Marlins' best opportunity to put runs on the board. Back-to-back singles for the Marlins set up Jazz Chisholm Jr., who got to Braves starter Bryce Elder for a double, but Luis Arraez tried to go from second to home and was caught on the way to scoring what would've been the first run of the game. Bryan De La Cruz advanced to third on the play. A Josh Bell fly ball wasn't deep enough to drive in De La Cruz and Jesús Sánchez flew out to end the inning.

The Marlins tagged Elder for eight hits, but were unable to score off of any. Through seven innings, the Marlins out-hit the Braves, with the tandem of Ryan Weathers and reliever Burch Smith giving up seven hits. It wouldn't be until the bottom of the eighth inning when the Braves matched the Marlins in the hits category.

Elder became the ninth different pitcher (10th occurrence overall) where a starter has allowed 8 or more hits to Marlins hitters without allowing a run. The last to do it was Jack Flaherty in 2023. As for the Marlins, they grounded into two double plays and had runners in scoring position in three different innings. This marked the team's second time being shut out in the 2024 season (also on April 8 vs. the Yankees).

In game two of the three-game set, Trevor Rogers will take the mound for the Fish on Tuesday. First pitch will be at 7:20 p.m.

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