Outfield arms earn the save for Marlins in exciting win

[Kevin Barral]

The Marlins looked to be in danger of losing a fifth straight game on Friday night when Ryan Weathers exited early due to injury, but clutch plays by their defense made all the difference.

MIAMI, FL—With the Cleveland Guardians 90 feet away from retaking the lead, Miami Marlins manager Skip Schumaker wanted to have his best reliever on the mound. That's why with Friday's game tied at 2-2, he brought in closer Tanner Scott despite there being only one out in the top of the eighth inning. The Guardians had a runner on third and the meat of their order due up: José Ramírez, Josh Naylor and David Fry. Although Scott got out of the jam, it wasn't all due to him. Dane Myers made the biggest defensive play of his young MLB career to complete an inning-ending double play. A Jazz Chisholm Jr. RBI single in the bottom of the eighth gave Miami a 3-2 win.

Guardians pinch-hitter Daniel Schneemann led off the eighth inning with a triple. He attempted to score on Ramírez's fly ball to right field, but Myers unleashed a throw that put catcher Nick Fortes in the perfect spot to apply the tag.

"That's a huge play," said Skip Schumaker on Myers' throw. "It had to be right there or he's safe. That kid can run. I thought when (José Ramírez) hit it far enough, right away and kept fading towards the line too—when the ball fades and your right-handed thrower, it's really hard to get your body in line to throw. Luckily, he was a former pitcher and he has a good arm and put it right on the money."

Offensively, it was a quiet night for Myers. He went 0-for-3 before being replaced by pinch-hitter Jesús Sánchez.

"I had a tough day at the plate," said Myers. "Kind of unlucky. Felt like myself again at the plate. Squared up three balls, but didn't have anything to show for it. When I first got here, I just want to help the team however I can, and defensively, that's how it was tonight."

Prior to Myers' throw, Bryan De La Cruz had the task of holding Schneemann at third base. At the plate was Brayan Rocchio, who smacked a relatively deep fly ball to left (264 feet, per Statcast, the exact same distance as the ball that went to Myers). Schneemann took a few steps toward home, but held up when De La Cruz got rid of the ball quickly and accurately.

"I'm very impressed with those guys," said center fielder Jazz Chisholm Jr. "They did a great job, especially De La Cruz. He went after that ball and when I saw that guy tagging, I thought he was actually going to go on De La Cruz's instead of Dane's. We all know Dane used to be a pitcher, so I wouldn't run on him...They made great plays."

Leading up to Friday's game, the Guardians bullpen had the highest fWAR in baseball (4.1) and had only allowed one run in their last 27 innings. In the bottom of the eighth, Jake Burger hit a two-out double, which was followed by Chisholm's go-ahead RBI single.

"We had some hard contact," said Schumaker. "(Josh) Bell smoked that ball right before Burger's double to right and then Jazz...That bullpen is good and I'm totally okay with just scoring one run if we're winning."

In Chisholm's first at-bat of the game, he struck out on what was a questionable call that the umpire later apologized for missing.

"I was really proud of Jazz," said Schumaker. "He probably had borderline calls in his first strikeout and Jazz could have taken that and the next three at-bats could've been bad. Instead, he moved on and ended up getting the game-winning hit. I'm super proud of him moving on, going at-bat to at-bat and not taking one at-bat and letting it flow into the fourth of that and there's so much game left. You're gonna get screwed at times. That's what happens. But I'm proud of him to come back and still win."

Starter Ryan Weathers was removed in the top of the third inning with one out due to left finger index soreness. He gave up two runs off of four hits. He also struck out three. Weathers averaged 95.4 mph on his four-seam fastball, but his last couple of fastballs were only 91 mph.

"There's concern when I have to pull him out," said Schumaker." I've pulled him out before with some cramping with his hand too. Just trying to figure that out...He couldn't really feel the ball coming off. Once we figure it out later tonight or tomorrow, then we'll have more."

Weathers surrendered a two-run homer to Guardians shortstop Brayan Rocchio, which came off of his changeup. That was Rocchio's first career home run which left the bat at 104.6 mph and went 377 feet to left field. That home run gave Cleveland an early 2-0 lead.

A group of Emmanuel Ramirez, Andrew Nardi, A.J. Puk, Calvin Faucher and Tanner Scott shut out the Guardians after Weathers left, limiting them to just two hits and one walk. The Marlins bullpen now has a scoreless streak of 17 ⅔ innings  dating back to the first game of the Citrus Series on Tuesday.

"Ramirez really stepped up for us," said Schumaker. "We needed length. He's not really a length guy, just kind of a multi-inning guy. But he gave us really strong innings. Nardi since the start of May had been pretty lights-out. Puk since joining the 'pen has given up three earned runs, something crazy like that. Scott with the huge, huge out against (José) Ramírez. Incredible night with the bullpen especially."

In his return to South Florida, former FIU pitcher Logan Allen went six innings giving up two runs off of four hits and three walks. Allen also struck out three. In the bottom of the third inning, the former second round pick surrendered back-to-back home runs to first, Bryan De La Cruz and then Josh Bell. That was De La Cruz's 11th home run of the season and it was Bell's seventh.

With the win, the Marlins are now 22-41 on the season and will go for the series win on Saturday with Roddery Muñoz taking the mound. A roster move will need to be made to add the Dominican starter to the 26-man active roster, but he is in Miami with the team. He will have to toe the rubber against Ben Lively. This game will be on FS1, so first pitch will be ay 7:35 pm.

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[THOMAS JOSEPH]

With the prominent exception of concern for Weathers, last night's game was encouraging and fun. Credit is given where due for those two excellent throws, the back-to-backs, the bullpen, Scott's typical firefighting, and Chisholm's game-winner. That had the 2023 magic feel to it - the lurking confidence. Edwards and Myers really do add sparks to the team. Very pleased that Myers was retained, the tough Garcia decision was made, and Edwards is seemingly getting a real oppo.