Crawford silences Marlins bats in return to South Florida

[Nate Karzmer]

South Florida native and Red Sox starter Kutter Crawford had never even been to loanDepot park as a fan, let alone a player before his gem on Tuesday night.

MIAMI, FL- Following a relatively successful 3-4 road trip, highlighted by a series split against the National League-leading Philadelphia Phillies, the Miami Marlins returned to loanDepot park on Tuesday night to begin their eighth home stand of the season against the 44-39 Boston Red Sox. Essentially from pitch one, Miami was playing from behind. It took Boston just four batters to grab an early 2-0 lead, one they held on to for the rest of the contest behind starter Kutter Crawford's fourth consecutive quality start on their way to a 8-3 win.

After his offense got to Marlins starter Valente Bellozo in the first inning, highlighted by a Rafael Devers two-RBI single, Crawford dominated. Crawford's combination of efficiency and mixing of his fastballs allowed him to cruise through Miami's order his first time around, allowing one hit on a minuscule 39 pitches through his first three innings of work. The 28-year-old said postgame that he "knew (his) job is to attack the strike zone with as many quality strikes that (he) could", and he did just that, walking zero batters. Crawford threw his four-seam and cutter 77% of the time, with the two pitches combining for twelve whiffs. The righty finished his night tossing six innings of one-run ball, with his only mistake being a solo shot to Jake Burger in the fifth.

Crawford, who hails from Okeechobee, Florida, and who played college baseball in Fort Myers at Florida Gulf Coast University, had "a number of family and friends in attendance". Tuesday was his first time in loanDepot park not just as a player, but his entire life as well, as he noted postgame. When I asked him what it was like to be back home professionally for the first time and pitch in front of said family members and friends, he said it "felt good...You know, I'm a fan of indoors even though it still gets hot in there. But no, it was a good atmosphere here."

Miami was only able to scratch across two more runs following Crawford's departure, with the loudest and most noteworthy being Jesús Sánchez's 448-foot no-doubt homer to dead-center field in the seventh. It was another lackluster day at the plate for the Fish, who were only able to put up seven hits the entire night with just a 37.9% hard-hit rate.

Opposite of Crawford was Bellozo, making his second major league start after an encouraging debut last week in Kansas City. Unlike his first start, Bellozo was getting hit around early and often. The first four batters he faced combined for an average exit velocity of 96.9, with the fourth being the previously mentioned two-RBI single off the bat of Devers.

Innings two and three were Bellozo's most impressive in his short tenure in the big leagues, as the 24-year-old recorded two strikeouts in the second, then struck out the side in the third.

Disaster struck yet again in the fourth, though, after Ceddanne Rafaela worked a seven-pitch at-bat and deposited a Bellozo changeup into the stands that gave Boston a 5-0 lead.

Bellozo was able to get though five innings before turning the ball over to Declan Cronin. All in all, as Bellozo noted postgame, it was a "good effort... a good fight", especially considering that "one pitch" was the difference between an OK start and a good start. Bellozo, like Crawford, leaned mostly on his fastball and cutter, specifically his backdoor cutter, throwing the two pitches 65% of the time. Six of Bellozo's eight strikeouts came on both fastballs.

Marlins manager Skip Schumaker said of his starter's outing, "It's kind of an interesting outing because he had, gosh, eight strikeouts, but then when he was hit, he was hit hard. So it's just kind of an interesting outing. I don't know how else to put it, but he didn't shoot himself in the foot. He had one walk. I thought he attacked against, you know, in his second career start against the Boston Red Sox. I thought it showed that he's, you know, not afraid. He's gonna go on the attack. He does not walk any guys and that's what we preach here."

Cronin and JT Chargois pitched in relief for Miami. The former allowed an uncharacteristic five hits and two earned-runs, while the latter allowed a singular run, a Jarren Duran blast, in two innings of work.

The second of three games between Boston and Miami features the Marlins leader in starts, Trevor Rogers. Rogers is coming off one of his best performances of the season, a solid six inning three earned-run performance in Philadelphia last Thursday. Young righty Bryan Bello will toe the slab for Alex Cora's squad in his 15th start of the season. Bello was shelled in his previous start, giving up seven earned runs in just 2.1 innings of work. First pitch is scheduled for 6:40 ET.

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[THOMAS JOSEPH]

I like Jesus Sanchez and even picked him to be the series MVP here. Still, when a player hits a solo home run with his team down 7-1, he should just run the bases, accept perfunctory dugout congratulations, and sit the eff down. It's 7-2 in the seventh inning. Reminds me of that silly clown, Morel, in Chicago.

[Slacker Mills]

Always enjoy your commentary, Cup of Joe. You are an astute contributor. HOWEVER, it should be noted that with the season already gone to graveyards everywhere (from "Blowin' in the Wind, of course), players are merely positioning themselves for their next contracts. Stats=Cash. Go, Jesus!