Roddery Muñoz leads Marlins to first series win of 2024

[Kevin Barral]

In his second career start, 24-year-old Roddery Muñoz went six innings, allowing only run and striking out seven. He also cemented himself into Marlins history.

MIAMI, FL—Entering Wednesday night's game against the Colorado Rockies, the Miami Marlins looked to clinch their first series of the season and win back-to-back games. Along with accomplishing those feats, Dominican pitcher Roddery Muñoz earned his first major league win and Anthony Maldonado earned his first career save. The Marlins defeated the Rockies by a final score of 4-1.

Acquired in the offseason in exchange for cash considerations, nobody thought that right-hander Roddery Muñoz would do what he has done through his first two Major League starts. After a strong first start, Muñoz went six innings against the Rockies, giving up one run off three hits. He struck out seven in the process. 

"I thought Mel (Stottlemyre Jr.) had a really good game plan with with Roddery and Christian Bethancourt," said Miami Marlins manager Skip Schumaker after the game. "The demeanor was great out there. Saw some fist pumps maybe after every inning, but that's a rookie being excited out there and we're excited for him."

The only Rockies run came in the top of the sixth inning, when Elias Diaz grounded out, scoring Brenton Doyle.

 

Compared to Muñoz's debut (eight whiffs), he made opposing hitters whiff a lot more (12). His four-seam fastball velocity averaged 95.9 mph and topped out at 97.5 mph. What stood out to Schumaker was the 70% strikes thrown and how successful he was in balancing that along with making opposing hitters whiff. "The slider was real, fastball command was great. Just excellent job by Roddery."

Against the Rockies, Muñoz went cutter-heavy (38% usage) while utilizing five different pitches overall. Two of his strikeouts came on the slider while three came on the cutter and two with the sinker.

"That is my best pitch right now that I can have confidence in," said Muñoz via intrepreter in regards to his cutter/slider. "Threw it quite a bit in in Chicago," said Schumaker. "Probably more tonight, but he threw it quite a bit and talking with the other side, they couldn't pick it up...In Chicago, some of the guys there said that it was just a really tough pitch to pick up."

Muñoz became the fifth Marlins starter this season to complete six innings. Jesús Luzardo, Edward Cabrera and Ryan Weathers have all done it once while Max Meyer did it twice. He also became the sixth pitcher in Marlins history to strike out at least 14 batters in his first two career games. The last to accomplish this feat was Sixto Sánchez in the 2020 shortened season.

Along with Muñoz's strong outing, the Marlins offense backed him up, getting to Colorado Rockies starter Dakota Hudson. In the bottom of the fifth inning, Luis Arraez drove in Emmanuel Rivera to give the Marlins a 1-0 lead. Bryan De La Cruz followed Arraez with an RBI double, scoring the Venezuelan from first. The Marlins extended their lead in the bottom of the eighth inning when Dane Myers, who pinch-hit for Christian Bethancourt, smacked an RBI single, driving in Otto Lopez and Rivera to give Miami a 4-1 lead.

Since being recalled from Triple-A Jacksonville, Myers has gone 4-for-8 with five RBIs. For him, performing in late-game situations is nothing new. "I enjoy it," said Myers. "It's kind of been my type of thing my whole life. I pride myself in coming through in those situations."

Although Myers walked it off in game one against the Rockies, he showed a lot of emotion in game two as well, knowing he very likely clinched the first Marlins series win of the season. "Yeah, 2-1 and 4-1 is a big difference going into the ninth. Giving Maldonado extra cushion is pretty big and showing a little motion, I felt good and I was pumped to get those couple extra runs."

Anthony Maldonado earned his first career save with a scoreless ninth inning. "I've watched Maldo pitch now for a couple of years and stuff is electric," said Myers, who had been AAA-Jacksonville teammates with him dating back to 2023. "I think he has one of the best sliders in the league. You guys are seeing that a lot of swing-and-miss and he's a good guy. I think he deserves it all."

Schumaker added that the intention originally was not to place Maldonado in this situation, but following the Myers hit, Tanner Scott had to sit for an extended period between innings and for him to go back out there was just too risky, so he put his confidence in the rookie. "I felt really comfortable with Maldonado coming in with especially a three-run lead."

With the 4-1 victory over the Rockies, the Marlins have clinched their first series victory in 2024 and it was their first time winning back-to-back games. The Fish will conclude their homestand and go for the sweep on Thursday. Edward Cabrera will take the mound for the Marlins, while for the Rockies, Peter Lambert takes the mound. First pitch is scheduled for 12:10 p.m.

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[THOMAS JOSEPH]

I'm glad I watch every game - not permanently discouraged by April's performances/record. I know there's no postseason this year, but there's no reason to think there will be no progress in the long-term plan. The progress may be quite slow and incremental for fans' tastes, but let's not think this is an entirely wasted season. After the Expos' immediate post-expansion years (1969-1972), which were horrendous, some glimmers appeared in 1973 with Steve Rogers and Gary Carter. The franchise was low-income and fought throughout its tenure with scouting/development (from scratch), finding the proverbial diamonds in the rough, and lots of moves/trades. The Expos developed six HOFers in their 36 seasons - one every six years. Amazing! Perennial competitiveness can be done with the right scouring, coaching, and front-office talent.