Marlins go over .500 in May thanks to Jesús Sánchez's big night

[Kevin Barral]

The Marlins wrapped up the month of May on a high note, taking game one of a three-game set against the defending World Series champion Texas Rangers. They finished May with a 14-13 record.

MIAMI, FL—After a putrid 7-24 start to the season, the Miami Marlins went 14-13 in May, capping it off with a win over the Texas Rangers. Highlighted by a 3-for-3 night for Jesús Sánchez, the Marlins offense defeated the defending champs by a final score of 8-2.

Entering Friday's game, Sánchez had been slashing .230/.285/.309/.594. In the final game of the Marlins road trip against the San Diego Padres, he went 2-for-5 with a home run. Although he's had a rough season compared to 2023, he may be turning the corner after back-to-back strong performances.

"I think that's something that we look for," said Jesús Sánchez following the game. "Offensive players just having that pitching there, backing us up and then we can feel comfortable to get those results. I think we're a team that can hit. We're gonna get offensive results and you're seeing that and I think we also have the capability of winning a lot of games if that's what happens."

Sánchez owned the the exit velocity leaderboard on Friday. His first double of the night left the bat at 111.0 mph and he followed it with a 114.5 mph double. His three-run homer was the "softest" hit ball of the night at 109.8 mph, but that's still harder than some of his teammates have hit a ball all season. Each one of his hits came off of different pitchers

"Some guys are getting hits and then some guys are getting loud hits and his are loud right now," said Marlins manager Skip Schumaker. "The west coast, it felt like it's something that starting to click in Arizona. Those are some loud outs and then some really loud hits. The San Diego series, he was taking the ball really well. Today it was it was loud. The guy can hit the ball as hard as anybody in the big leagues."

José Ureña made his first start at loanDepot park since being non-tendered by the Marlins following the 2020 season. Entering Friday night's game, the former Marlin was posting the lowest ERA of his career. He joined the Texas starting rotation after multiple pitchers went down with injuries.

The Marlins got to the Rangers starter early in what proved to be his worst start of the season. After a 1-2-3 bottom of the first for Ureña, he ran into trouble in the second inning, surrendering a 111.0 mph double to Sánchez followed by an Emmanuel Rivera grounder that moved Sánchez to third and Nick Gordon hit a two-run homer to take an early 2-0 lead. The ball left the bat at 101.1 mph and went 396 ft. That was Gordon's sixth home run of the season, three away from his 2022 total.

The Marlins would tack on two more runs off of Ureña in the third inning. Josh Bell drove in Jazz Chisholm Jr. on a sac fly and a Gordon groundout with the bases loaded drove in Jake Burger. That gave the Marlins a commanding 4-0 lead through three innings of play.

In his first start as the opposing pitcher in loanDepot park, Ureña went 2 ⅓ innings, giving up four runs (two earned), two walks and one strikeout. He was credited for the loss.

One of the biggest issues for Marlins starting pitcher Sixto Sánchez has been the first inning of work. Although Sánchez's velocity was lower than usual, he got out of the first inning without allowing any damage thanks to a Corey Seager double play and a flyout. Sánchez ended the night going four innings, giving up two runs off of four hits, one walk, but did not record a strikeout.

Sánchez relied heavily on his cutter and changeup. His four-seam fastball averaged 91.0 mph, which is down 3.2 mph compared to his season average of 94.2 mph.

"I think he was fortunate," said Schumaker. "I think there's a lot of hard contact. There wasn't much swing-and-miss, got some double play balls which is good, but I think we got to figure out what's going on with the velo and just doesn't feel like it's coming out. And I know he went four innings or whatever it was and two runs, but it doesn't look like it's coming out like it should. He grinded through it."

The Marlins starter didn't generate a single whiff and surrendered five hard-hit balls. He also induced two double plays. One got him out of the first inning as well. His next scheduled start is projected to be next Friday against the Cleveland Guardians.

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[THOMAS JOSEPH]

Although it seems incongruent, the analytics age provides us with quantitative data concerning which players are "lucky" and "unlucky." In the past, it was anecdotal. Those who watched every game for our team had a litany of hard-hit balls, quirky bounces, or the like in our heads that formed our opinions about player "luck."  I watch the Marlins and, without appealing to available stats, have that gut feeling that our two Sanchezes are lucky (Sixto) and unlucky (Jesus). Both will probably have that luck run out in keeping with baseball lore. Schumaker's comments regarding Sixto show he thinks that time is rapidly approaching. Jesus' night keeps the ember of hope burning that he can proverbially "put it all together." I hate to give up on his lefty power, however, this seems like a crucial season for his career.