Marlins on wrong end of nationally televised blowout

[Kevin Barral]

Roddery Muñoz made his first appearance since May 6 and it did not go as planned.

MIAMI, FL—Following recent injuries to Sixto Sánchez (shoulder) and Ryan Weathers (finger), the Miami Marlins have openings in their starting rotation. Prior to game two of a three-game set against the Cleveland Guardians, Roddery Muñoz was recalled from Triple-A Jacksonville and given a chance to audition for a spot. Unfortunately, Muñoz struggled, giving up four runs. The deficit continued to grow against the Marlins bullpen, which had its scoreless streak snapped after 17 ⅔ innings. The Marlins were shut out for the seventh time this season by a final score of 8-0. Not ideal considering this was the rare occasion that their game was broadcasted to a national audience on FOX.

Muñoz went four innings of work and entered the fifth, but did not record an out. The Dominican right-hander generated 12 whiffs, most of them coming on his changeup. Poor command was an issue throughout his outing.

"Six three-ball counts, trying to fight to get back into counts all night long," said manager Skip Schumaker. "It was a tough lineup for him honestly with all the lefties in it, but it just felt like 50-something percent first-pitch strikes and just fighting to get back in the count against a good lineup and had to come in the zone against some good hitters. That kind of made him pay, but he has real stuff. If he learns how to throw it over the plate more consistently, he's going to be really good up here."

The first run that Muñoz allowed was a solo homer to the hot-hitting José Ramírez. Taking advantage of an elevated four-seamer, Ramírez sent the ball 401 feet deep to right-center field to give Cleveland an early 1-0 lead. That was his 18th home run of the season and his 61st RBI, which leads the majors.

In the top of the third inning, with runners on second and third with one out, Josh Naylor connected for an RBI single on a changeup way outside the zone. It wasn't necessarily a bad pitch by Muñoz, but just a good piece of hitting by Naylor that drove in Cleveland's second run of the game.

The Marlins starter gave up a second home run, this time a two-run shot to Steven Kwan to extend the Guardians lead to 4-0. Muñoz would be taken out of the game following the home run. Four walks for Muñoz matched his total from his previous four AAA starts combined. Meanwhile, he only struck out three.

If there was an aspect of the Marlins to be excited about these past couple of days, it's been the bullpen. Entering Saturday, they had held opponents scoreless in three straight games (17.2 IP). In relief of Muñoz, Declan Cronin could not keep the trend going. He gave up four of the six runs that the Guardians scored in the top of the fifth inning.

"He's a groundball pitcher," noted Schumaker. "Some balls got through once again. Just felt like he was also behind and then trying to fight back and to try to get into counts...He was gonna have one of these outings eventually. He's been really good. He's going to be fine."

Huascar Brazoban went 3 ⅔ innings pitched and only allowed two hits and two walks. Brazoban didn't record a single strikeout, but Saturday's relief appearance was the longest of his career. Emmanuel Rivera was the chosen position player to pitch in the top of the ninth inning.

Guardians starter Ben Lively was as efficient as he could be. Averaging 13 pitches per inning, the Marlins grounded out eight times against the right-hander. Even with seven hard-hit balls, the Marlins only knocked in three hits and one extra-base hit. Lively ended up going five innings, striking out one and not permitting a walk.

"He's like a low-release guy," said Josh Bell. "He's got good spin. So it's like 88-89 mph, plays up to like 90-94. Good command on his offspeed. He didn't make mistakes with it and he was pretty much underneath the zone or pounding that down-and-away quadrant."

"Maybe check off on the offspeed," said Bell when asked what the approach against Lively will be next time. "Maybe on advantage counts, sit offspeed. Seems like they for the most part used our aggressive mentality against us."

In four combined innings, Sam Hentges and Pedro Avila only allowed one hit and one walk to complete the shutout.

"I feel like they have a lot of different angles," said Bell regarding the Guardians bullpen, which leads MLB in fWAR. "Some tall lefties. We haven't seen (Nick) Sandlin, but submarine guy. It's dealer's choice. They can pick arm slots, they can pick specialty pitches. There's a ton of different angles and some good velocity and good offspeed pitches."

With the loss, the Miami Marlins are now 22-42 on the season, 20 games under .500 while the Guardians improve to 41-22. Trevor Rogers will take the mound for the Marlins for Sunday's rubber match against Carlos Carrasco for Cleveland. First pitch will be at 1:40 pm and the game will be on Bally Sports Florida.

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