Marlins upset Orioles again, take series courtesy of all-around offensive effort

[Nate Karzmer]

Seven of the nine starters in Miami's lineup reached base en route to their most impressive series victory of 2024.

MIAMI, FL—There was an upbeat buzz at loanDepot park on Wednesday starting in the early afternoon, when Miami Marlins ace Sandy Alcántara threw his first bullpen since undergoing Tommy John surgery around 4:00 p.m. The vibes remained high into the early hours of the evening on the diamond, as the Marlins lineup pushed across three runs early with a Josh Bell homer and timely hitting from Xavier Edwards and Nick Gordon against Baltimore Orioles starting pitcher Chayce McDermott, who was making his big league debut. Marlins starter Edward Cabrera showed some improvement against the AL East-leading Orioles for most of the night, but after he loaded the bases in the sixth, he was relieved by Huascar Brazobán, who proceeded to allow a game-tying bases-clearing double to Colton Cowser. In the bottom of the frame, though, Miami re-took the lead after Jazz Chisholm Jr. and Bryan De La Cruz got all three runs back with clutch swings. Also clutch was the back end of the Marlins' bullpen, which shut down the Orioles in the final three innings, securing a 6-3 win and an outstanding series win.

While the majority of the Marlins bats enjoyed good nights, the two standouts were, without a doubt, Chisholm and Edwards.

Chisholm entered the contest slashing a fine .300/.391/.500 since the All-Star break. He continued his impressive run with the eventual game-winning hit in the sixth that just got over third baseman Ramón Urías' head. The speedster was able to turn into a hustle double, his second in as many nights,

Marlins manager Skip Schumaker praised his star's improved ability to hit left-handed pitching postgame, saying the two-bagger was a "huge hit against a lefty once again. You know, (he's) having really good at bats against left-handers."

Other than a gap in slugging, Chisholm entered Wednesday's game slashing almost identical lines regardless of pitcher handedness: .252/.324/.351 against southpaws as opposed to .251/.325/.444 against righties.

As for Edwards, it was just another run of the mill multi-hit night, as the 24-year-old recorded his eighth such game in the month of July alone. With his third hit in the eighth inning, he notched his second career three-hit game of his career.

Schumaker also raved about his shortstop. "He's taking really good at-bats. He's taking his walks, he's not really punching out and stealing bases. We knew that he was going to get on base and hit, but I honestly I didn't know he was gonna hit this good. He's a good hitter, but he's impressing me more and more from the right and left side."

As a player who's big on sticking to his brand of baseball, when asked about how nice it is to see his game translate so well to the big league level, Edwards said it "definitely feels good. Just helping the team win because that's what I feel like I can do. Come in every day, do my best and try to do the little things, something that I can to help us win the game. And we've got off to a good start this series."

After taking yet another walk in the second inning, Edwards extended his on-base streak to 11 games.

As for Cabrera on the mound, it was an interesting night. The flamethrower sat down four O's and only allowed four hits, but also, unfortunately, walked four, which ended up being the reason he was relieved so early and got a no-decision for his efforts after Cowser's aforementioned double to plate the runners he left on for Brazobán. The last Marlins starter to earn a win was Jesús Luzardo way back on June 11.

Aside from the free passes in the latter half of his start, Cabrera's stuff looked as good as ever, in particular his off-speed. Cabrera relied on his changeup and curveball the most, throwing both at a combined 63% clip. The power-changeup generated four whiffs, while the breaking ball missed six bats.

When asked about how he felt in the first four innings, Cabrera said via interpreter, "Good. Under control. Thank God I can say that. I was feeling really, really good."

After Brazobán, Miami enjoyed three hitless innings out of the 'pen from Andrew Nardi, Calvin Faucher and, of course, Tanner Scott. After allowing a leadoff walk to start the ninth, Scott made quick work of his former team to earn his 18th save of the season.

The Fish look to break out the brooms Thursday at 12:10 ET, and it will certainly not be an easy task as 2021 NL Cy Young winner Corbin Burnes takes the mound for Brandon Hyde's club. Burnes has dazzled in his first season as an Oriole, owning a 10-4 record and 2.38 ERA. On the mound for Miami is Roddery Muñoz, who is set to make his 11th start of the season. Muñoz will be looking to lower his season ERA of 5.14 against a very deep lineup in the first base dugout.

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[THOMAS JOSEPH]

This was a fun game to watch - quite welcome. Dare we get greedy and hope for a sweep? Why not!

Beef of the game: I mentioned this on X. I don't understand Schumaker's removal of Cabrera (and Tyler, for that matter). How will these guys ever work through roadblock innings? Isn't this the season, with the team 30 games under breakeven, to work on such things?  Cabrera's fifth-inning problem, a la Jesus Sanchez's lefty batting struggles, will not improve without playing. Bringing in another righthander, Brazoban, isn't the issue even if it is puzzling. Cabrera was at 90 pitches, not 109. Also, this is not outcome-based, despite the temptation to be fine with the move if no inherited runners scored. The Marlins need to see Cabrera's mettle in overcoming his mid-game blowups and pitch count issues. Period. 

[Nate Karzmer]

4 hours ago, THOMAS JOSEPH said:

This was a fun game to watch - quite welcome. Dare we get greedy and hope for a sweep? Why not!

Beef of the game: I mentioned this on X. I don't understand Schumaker's removal of Cabrera (and Tyler, for that matter). How will these guys ever work through roadblock innings? Isn't this the season, with the team 30 games under breakeven, to work on such things?  Cabrera's fifth-inning problem, a la Jesus Sanchez's lefty batting struggles, will not improve without playing. Bringing in another righthander, Brazoban, isn't the issue even if it is puzzling. Cabrera was at 90 pitches, not 109. Also, this is not outcome-based, despite the temptation to be fine with the move if no inherited runners scored. The Marlins need to see Cabrera's mettle in overcoming his mid-game blowups and pitch count issues. Period. 

Agreed on leaving Sanchy in there against lefties, the season has been lost for quite some time, so at this point, there's nothing to lose. Let guys get their reps. I am with Skip though on the removal of Cabrera. I'm all for seeing how pitchers work out of intense situations, but he walked his last batter on four pitches and his pitch count was creeping up.

[THOMAS JOSEPH]

21 hours ago, Nate Karzmer said:

Agreed on leaving Sanchy in there against lefties, the season has been lost for quite some time, so at this point, there's nothing to lose. Let guys get their reps. I am with Skip though on the removal of Cabrera. I'm all for seeing how pitchers work out of intense situations, but he walked his last batter on four pitches and his pitch count was creeping up.

It's a reasonable viewpoint. We all can acknowledge that Cabrera can't overcome or even improve on his stressful innings issues unless he plows through when they happen. David Samson noted that these problems are why teams should not keep lame-duck managers. I realize the team probably felt no need to make a managerial change, incur wrath from fans, and incur additional costs since the outcome looked poor anyway. Still, Schumaker's business-as-usual play with the roster is fine and eminently defensible, but it's not helping individual players - Edwards, Myers, Cabrera - address significant growth obstacles in their games. This must be an evaluative season. Now, with Anderson gone, Edwards is showing what he can do. Of course, Myers is hurt, but he could/should have been playing a lot more. Cabrera is stuck in a rut, which may never change, although I reiterate that a team that is 30 games under breakeven must re-focus away from the manager's staid results issues. It means nothing to win 62 games versus winning 60 in the balance.