Wrong kind of century mark as Miami drops 100th

[Louis Addeo-Weiss]

The Twins erupted late amid shaky Miami defense to keep their playoff hopes alive as they hand the Marlins their fourth 100-loss season.

What kind of pitcher is Edward Cabrera?

"A guy with some of the best pure stuff in baseball."

Sure.

"A guy who routinely struggles to find the strike zone."

Also, yes.

With Blake Snell forfeiting the moniker of "most polarizing pitcher in baseball" with sustained effectiveness, one can argue that Cabrera—whom we have discussed ad nauseam here—has supplanted the two-time Cy Young award winner in that regard. 

While Wednesday's outing (5 IP, 3 R, 1 ER, 5 K) was largely encouraging, it did not stop the Marlins from running into the buzzsaw that was the Twins pitching staff. Minnesota hurlers struck out 16 hitters in their 8-3 win as they look to keep their playoff hopes alive.

Despite the win, the Twins (82-76) still find themselves two games out of the third AL Wild Card spot with Detroit and Kansas City both winning their respective Wednesday matchups. Miami, on the other hand, dropped to 58-100, the fourth time in franchise history and third since 2018 where they have lost at least 100 games in a season. 

Walking just one in his 20th and final outing of the season, Cabrera wrapped under his 2024 season with a 3.57 ERA over his final 10 starts, allowing three runs or fewer in eight of them.

Through 63 games (61 starts) and 294 innings pitched over parts of four seasons, Cabrera owns a 4.32 ERA, 10.04 K/9 and 5.14 BB/9. In his 20 outings this season, the hard-throwing right-hander pitched to a 4.95 ERA and 4.68 FIP. Despite the strong finish to his season, Cabrera's status as a member of the 2025 rotation remains up in the air given his penchant for perpetual inconsistency.

Upsetting in the loss was Miami forking up a three-run lead they initially took when Jake Burger , now one homer shy of back-to-back 30-homer seasons, hit a three-run blast off Simeon Woods Richardson (1.0 IP, 6 H, 3 R). In relief of Richardson, the Minnesota bullpen authored eight scoreless innings, recording 14 of the last 24 outs via the strikeout. The Marlins are now 12-40 in games where they strike out 10-plus times. 

After retiring the first six Twins hitters to start the evening, Cabrera surrendered a pair of runs in a bottom of the third that accompanied a throwing error of his doing, the first of four defensive miscues by Miami on the night. The Marlins' 114 errors rank last in the majors.

Cabrera's only earned run came in the bottom of the fourth when Byron Buxton's 18th home run would tie the score at 3 apiece. Minnesota put up a five-spot in the bottom of the seventh, with four of those runs being unearned, adding to the team's MLB-worst 83 unearned runs allowed.

 

Looking Ahead

The Twins will host the Marlins one final time in 2024 when they conclude their series Thursday evening. David Festa (2-6, 4.80 ERA) and Valente Bellozo (3-4, 3.82 ERA) will face off. A pleasant surprise for Miami this season, Bellozo has been the sport's luckiest pitcher (min. 60 IP) in terms of the 1.92-run variance between his ERA and FIP. Can he get by on smoke and mirrors one last time? 

First pitch from Target Field is slated for 7:40 EST.

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