Marlins collapse against Padres behind Ronny Simon's errors, Max Meyer's struggles

[Kevin Barral]

The Marlins immediately took a 6-0 lead, but then never scored again. Their second baseman and starting pitcher had especially rough nights.

Man oh man, this was certainly an interesting game. The Marlins had their most productive first inning of the season, batting around to build a six-run lead. Within an hour, that lead was completely gone. Second baseman Ronny Simon committed three errors (and four total misplays) while starting pitcher Max Meyer failed to miss bats as the Marlins fell to the San Diego Padres by a final score of 8-6.

Simon has been a part-time player for the Marlins since being called up on April 20 with second base being his main position. He had only committed one error there prior to Tuesday's game.

Simon ranged into foul territory to record the first defensive out of the night for the Marlins, then finished off the inning by fielding a routine grounder. However, he mishandled every other ball that came his way and was removed from the game early.

In the bottom of the second inning, with the Marlins leading 6-1, Padres left fielder Tyler Wade hit a grounder towards Simon that deflected off his glove for an RBI single. The rookie made matters worse by throwing wildly to home (his first error). Both Xander Bogaerts and Jake Cronenworth scored to make it a 6-3 game.

In the third inning, Simon was distracted by a Padres hit-and-run and allowed a grounder to get through him into center field. The play was ruled a single as the lead continued to shrink to 6-4.

It became clear that Simon was letting the pressure get to him when he made errors on consecutive plays in the fourth. He allowed Wade to reach first base, then Fernando Tatis Jr. grounded into what could have been a double play, but Simon flipped the ball beyond the reach of shortstop Javier Sanoja,

Following the inning, the Marlins took Simon out, moving Sanoja from short to second base. Otto Lopez entered the game at shortstop. 

"Things just started to snowball a little bit and the compound effect was tough," said Marlins manager Clayton McCullough. "Just thought for us and him in that moment that making the change, that was prudent with how things had transpired."

As much as Simon opened the door for the Padres to rally, Marlins starting pitcher Max Meyer turned in one of his worst starts of the season, not striking anyone out for a second time in 2025 and allowing six runs (four earned). His 3 ⅓ innings of work also marked his shortest outing of the season.

"Maybe not his crispiest stuff, but I think he was out there battling and kept trying to make pitches," said McCullough. "You gave them some extra outs that made things difficult, but I felt Max just kept going. Competed his butt off out there tonight."

Although Meyer's slider can be his best weapon, it was not effective in this outing. San Diego hitters posted a 98.2 mph average exit velocity against it with no whiffs.

Here's what Meyer told the media regarding Simon's rough defensive night: "I told him, 'I know you’re not trying to do that behind me. Keep your head up.' Stuff like that is going to happen. It’s baseball at the end of the day and I’m not going to hold anything behind him.”

Miami's first-inning explosion off of Stephen Kolek began when lead-off hitter Jesús Sánchez stayed hot with a single to center field. Kyle Stowers, Liam Hicks, Connor Norby and Ronny Simon each drove in a run apiece.

Victor Mesa Jr., who was making his first career start, recorded his first career hit and RBI during the rally. The ball left the bat at 104.8 mph. Sanoja drove in the sixth and final Marlins run of the game on a sac fly.

"Excited for him and that had to feel great," said McCullough about Mesa's milestone. "For us at that time, that was a big hit to keep the momentum going and pushing a run across."

Former Marlin Luis Arraez made a major impact. He ripped an RBI single up the middle against Meyer to drive in the game-tying run. Next time up with two outs in the fifth inning, he singled off of Anthony Bender's unhittable sweeper to give the Padres a 7-6 lead.

Valente Bellozo worked the final three innings of the game. Jackson Merrill's solo homer in the bottom of the eighth inning put the nail in the coffin.

With the loss, the Marlins dropped to 21-32 on the season. This was their first blown lead of six runs or more since April 28, 2024.

McCullough will send Sandy Alcantara to the mound as the Marlins try to salvage the series. First pitch is at 4:10 pm on getaway day. 

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[One Regend]

My brother in Christ, Meyer, you were given a SIX-NOTHING LEAD, IN THE FIRST INNING NO LESS, and you pissed it away.

I don't want to hear any excuses on how the Padres have a legit offense and how they have superstar talent. I don't want to hear any excuses about how Ronny Simon had perhaps the worst defensive game any player could possibly have. You don't lose a game you lead 6-0 in the first inning unless you are a generationally broken pitcher.

We drafted Max Meyer over Garrett Crochet and Pete Crow-Armstrong, BTW.

[Guest]

Max "Middle-Middle" Meyer needs a REAL pitching coach to work with him. Ever since his fastball started getting hit HARD, he became scared to use it. The only problem with his fastball is the same problem Sandy has: LOCATION. Every major league pitcher who is having any success these days is doing it by ELEVATING their fastball. It has to be thrown up HIGH to make hitters swing at it and usually MISS it. Very few hitters can catch up to a high fastball and it doesn't even have to be 98 mph; Bellozo gets wiffs on his 93 mph heater. Instead both Sandy and Max throw fastballs WAIST HIGH and get clobbered. This has led Max to almost completely abandon his fastball and rely on his slider and change up, and when he hangs them MIDDLE-MIDDLE he gets....clobbered. Right now Max is a head case. He should be taken out of the rotation and sent down to the minors to RE-LEARN how to pitch and Valente Bellozo should take his spot in the rotation. But the Moron Manager doesn't trust Bellozo because he doesn't throw hard enough.

[Guest]

4 hours ago, One Regend said:

My brother in Christ, Meyer, you were given a SIX-NOTHING LEAD, IN THE FIRST INNING NO LESS, and you pissed it away.

I don't want to hear any excuses on how the Padres have a legit offense and how they have superstar talent. I don't want to hear any excuses about how Ronny Simon had perhaps the worst defensive game any player could possibly have. You don't lose a game you lead 6-0 in the first inning unless you are a generationally broken pitcher.

We drafted Max Meyer over Garrett Crochet and Pete Crow-Armstrong, BTW.

I agree 100%. See my post below. Bellozo should be starting; he is one pitcher who actually knows how to pitch. Did you see the HR Jackson Merrill hit off Bellozo? It was on a pitch out of the strike zone, just a great piece of hitting rather than a mistake pitch. Weathers is figuring it out as well; HIGH FASTBALLS at the top or above the strike zone is the way to go. Even Quantrill is doing it. Sandy and Meyer keep throwing cookies right down the middle. 

[Miami Italiano]

The usual "Marlins out of it by Memorial Day" streak continues.

[MarlinFaninGA]

I feel for Simon. It was good to hear that even the Padres contacted him and gave him encouragement! Really cool. On another subject: man, I sure hope Bendix doesn't trade Augustin! He's like Giancarlo Stanton. How did we lose Stanton? Let's not lose Augustin! What will it take to keep him? 

[Ely Sussman]

9 hours ago, MarlinFaninGA said:

On another subject: man, I sure hope Bendix doesn't trade Augustin! He's like Giancarlo Stanton. How did we lose Stanton? Let's not lose Augustin! What will it take to keep him? 

Even in the most optimistic scenario, I would compare him more closely to Ozuna than Stanton. And that's only considering the bat—they were better fielders as young players than Agustin is.

That's what makes it tricky to come up with a fair value for him. Not often do you see big commitments to somebody who's going to spend most of his prime as a DH.