Trevor Rogers bounces back in Detroit

[Alex Krutchik]

A few days removed from destroying the Marlins dugout in frustration, the 26-year-old pitched perhaps his best game of the year.

Marlins starting pitcher Trevor Rogers came into Wednesday’s game receiving some of the lowest run support in the major leagues, with his offense averaging 1.46 runs per game, according to Bally Sports Florida.

The trend continued again in Wednesday afternoon’s 2-0 win against the Detroit Tigers, with Bryan De La Cruz’s two-run home run in the first inning being the only offense to speak of. 

But those two runs are all Rogers and the bullpen needed. The 26-year-old lefty tossed five scoreless innings while striking out six. He allowed just three hits and walked two.

Most of that traffic came in the third inning. Rogers walked Carson Kelly to begin the frame, and hit Andy Ibáñez with a pitch after recording the first out of the inning. He struck out Wenceel Pérez for the second out, but walked Mark Canha to load the bases. After getting a visit from Mel Stottlemyre Jr., Rogers came back and struck out Gio Urshela on three straight changeups to escape the jam.

Rogers came back with a 1-2-3 fourth inning, and worked around a leadoff single in the fifth.

One of the keys for Rogers was his fastball velocity increasing as the game went on, after having trouble with maintaining it in his previous starts this year. 

 

"It was the first time that he wanted the ball back in the sixth inning," Marlins manager Skip Schumaker said to the media after the game. "So just to show you how he's feeling and confidence he's gaining. It's a really good job by Mel and the pitching staff, obviously, of game-planning, and then getting Trevor back to where he needs to be."

 

 

After his last outing in which he gave up four runs in 3 ⅓ innings against the Philadelphia Phillies, Rogers said he identified some issues with his mechanics where his throwing hand felt disconnected from his body, especially when his planting foot hit the ground.

After Wednesday's outing, he said the changes he made in the last few days had him feeling much better.

"It was a big part of the results today," Rogers said. "Really just maintaining my posture down the mound and getting more extension. I had better extension today...It was just really, really good. Mechanics were solid, just riding down the mound a lot more efficiently and really getting my fastballs in today, consistently, (which is) something that I've been lacking recently."

Marlins starting pitchers—Sixto Sánchez, Ryan Weathers and Rogers—allowed zero earned runs in 17 ⅔ innings in Detroit this week.

Declan Cronin got five outs, and was pulled for Andrew Nardi after allowing a two-out single to Kelly in the seventh inning. Nardi, struggling with inherited runners this year, needed just three pitches to get Riley Greene to pop out to third baseman Jake Burger.

Calvin Faucher and Tanner Scott then delivered the 1-2 punch in the eighth and ninth innings. It was the first time Scott had pitched on back-to-back days since April 29-30.

Following a trend that has plagued the Marlins this year, the offense couldn’t tack on more insurance runs after the first-inning outburst. The infield single from Jazz Chisholm Jr. and the subsequent home run by De La Cruz in the first inning were the only two hits Tigers starter Casey Mize allowed in six innings of work.

The Detroit bullpen threw three scoreless innings and allowed just two singles: one to Nick Fortes, and another to Jake Burger.

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[THOMAS JOSEPH]

Bound to be an excellent confidence-builder for Rogers. Puk's return, DLC's hot streak, Lopez's play, and a few other bright spots hopefully translate into some wins. There's no call to be pollyannish, however, the year can still be and must be productive. With additional trades coming, Bendix could conceivably move the Marlins farm system up from one of the lowest three to mid-league, shed additional payroll to set up the offseason, and, all the while, get in some significant evaluation of in the second half.