Braxton Garrett tosses a Maddux in series-opening win

[Kevin Barral]

Braxton Garrett turned in the best start of his career on Friday night, throwing a 95-pitch shutout against the Diamondbacks and leading the Marlins to a win.

After a rough two starts to begin his 2024 season, Braxton Garrett was tasked with facing the National League champion Arizona Diamondbacks. Garrett not only out-dueled former Marlin Zac Gallen, but he threw the first complete game of his MLB career, a 95-pitch "Maddux" to defeat the Diamondbacks by a final score of 3-0.

Efficiency was key for Garrett, averaging 10.6 pitches per inning and on top of that, not issuing a single walk. Garrett's sinker/slider combo was great, recording five out of his six strikeouts between those two pitches. He used his whole arsenal and ended up generating 11 whiffs. Four of his 11 whiffs were swinging strikeouts.

"I think I pulled him more than anyone in the sixth inning last year," said Marlins manager Skip Schumaker following the game. "To do a complete game this year just shows you where he's at and how much better he's gotten since maybe the first day I met him in spring training last year."

"Hard to put into words, really," said Garrett in his postgame on-field interview. "After the fifth, sixth inning, I was just telling myself to keep getting quick outs, go as long as I can and look what happened."

Because the game was close throughout, Schumaker still had to manage carefully entering the final inning. Closer Tanner Scott was warming in the bullpen just in case.

"I knew (Garrett) was going to go out in the ninth and then I was going to give him one hitter until he got two outs. When he got two outs, I was gonna give him two hitters. I didn't wanna just leave Scott out there and not give Brax a chance to win the game, but Corbin (Carroll) hit a ball pretty hard and I was getting a little bit nervous. Then (Jesús) Sánchez made a good play, (Jake) Burger made a good play and seems like (Christian) Walker just missed it, but credit to Braxton: got quick outs and allowed himself to get into the ninth inning and obviously get the complete game shutout."

Jesús Luzardo and Braxton Garrett are the first Marlins pitchers to pitch at least eight innings in back-to-back games since Dan Straily and Wei Yin-Chen (8/31/18 and 9/1/18). Garrett also became the second Marlins lefty (joining Dontrelle Willis in 2005) and the fifth Marlins pitcher overall to toss a Maddux. He became the first Marlin since Sandy Alcantara on (4/4/23) to throw a complete game.

This marks the fifth shutout that Nick Fortes has caught this season, all five of them happening in the last 11 days.

"Me and Nick were talking and I felt like I could throw my sinker down and away every single pitch and they would've kept rolling over it," said Garrett. "I can't say enough about Nick. He's so incredible back there and made some really awesome calls."

What took pressure off of the Marlins starter was the early 3-0 lead that the offense gave him against Zac Gallen. Entering Friday's game, Gallen was a perfect 3-0 against his former club, posting a 1.35 ERA. However, in the top of the second inning, three straight base hits set up Otto Lopez with the bases loaded where a hit up the middle drove in two runs.

Ever since coming off the IL, Jake Burger was 6-for-59 with one RBI and 16 strikeouts. On Friday, Burger had a 2-for-4 night which included his fourth home run of the season. Lopez and Burger were the only Marlins to have multi-hit games.

"He just needs to relax," said Schumaker about Burger. "You're not going to get four hits every at-bat. It's a long season. He's hit his whole life, he's gonna be fine...He's a middle-of-the-order bat that can do damage and I think at the end of the season, you'll see a lot of damage."

Despite losing to his former team, Gallen gave the Diamondbacks seven innings, struck out five and only walked one. His head-to-head success against Jazz Chisholm Jr. continued. Chisholm laid a bunt down in his first at-bat, but was unable to reach base. He struck out the other two times. Nearly five years after they were traded for each other, Chisholm is now 0-for-12 with five strikeouts against Gallen.

"He's one of the best in the game," said Schumaker about Gallen. "He's going to have Cy Young award votes again. Every single year he plays in the big leagues, he'll get Cy Young votes. He's that good."

With the win, the Marlins are now 18-34 on the season and aim to clinch their fourth straight series win with Sixto Sánchez taking the mound on Saturday against Jordan Montgomery for the Diamondbacks. First pitch is at 10:10 pm EST.

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[THOMAS JOSEPH]

Efficient, indeed! Garrett had the right mindset - get ahead of hitters, move the ball around the zone, pitch to contact - all leading to the efficient pitch count. The whiffs and Ks were excellent complements but not the main component to the strategy. Burger looked and performed like he was/is getting comfortable. Lopex continues to be a pleasant surprise. I know that the performances of the last ten days are also bound to inject confidence into Fortes. Even Anderson had some solid contact. Sanchez also looks like he's barreling up, portending one of his super streaks. Lastly, I like the aggressiveness on the basepaths, even with unsuccessful outcomes. We need that pressure on the defense and that additional run-producing mechanism. That truly was an enjoyable two hours of baseball. 

[Slacker Mills]

Placement of Otto Lopez near the bottom of the batting order bothers me greatly.

[Ely Sussman]

2 hours ago, Slacker Mills said:

Placement of Otto Lopez near the bottom of the batting order bothers me greatly.

Specifically, it's difficult to understand why Sánchez keeps batting 4th. There isn't much evidence that he is a better offensive player than Lopez right now. Getting too much credit for his 2023 season and left-handedness.

[MarlinzDude86]

Even if it's a small sample size, this success can be sustainable. If they can consistently win series' against teams hovering around or under .500 then there's a small shot at October. Not saying they can't win a series occasionally against good teams (Brewers for instance), but I'm being realistic.