Marlins score early off Verlander, take game one in San Francisco

[Kevin Barral]

Future Hall of Famer Justin Verlander remains winless in a San Francisco Giants uniform. The Marlins defeated Verlander at Oracle Park on Tuesday night. The 4-2 victory was Miami's seventh in the last 11 games.

In the top of the second inning, Eric Wagaman drove in Kyle Stowers on an RBI double. It marks Wagaman's 17th double of the season, which is the highest total on the Marlins. It also moved him into the top spot amongst all MLB rookies. After Liam Hicks struck out, Connor Norby, who had been in a deep slump for much of the past month, drove Wagaman in on an RBI single, extending the Marlins' lead to 2-0.

"Just be on time for the fastball," said Wagaman postgame. "He threw a lot of fastballs and I figured later in the at-bat he was going to throw some sort of breaking pitch and I felt like he just threw it right there and I was on time for it."

The Marlins extended their lead in the top of the third inning thanks to an Otto Lopez RBI single, driving in Jesús Sánchez, who hit his ninth double of the season. Lopez went on to finish the night with his 12th multi-hit game of the season.

Cal Quantrill, who made his 15th start of the season, gave the Fish 4 ⅔ innings, allowing two runs on four hits, two walks and three hits. After four scoreless innings of work, Quantrill surrendered a leadoff base hit to third baseman Casey Schmitt in the fifth, then a two-run homer to second baseman Christian Koss. That made it a one-run game.

Per usual, the Canadian right-hander relied on his cutter as his most-used pitch, generating two whiffs and one of his strikeouts coming on that pitch. His fastball averaged 93.0 mph, topping out at 94.0 mph.

Quantrill has not earned a win since May 18. He came very close to qualifying for one, getting Rafael Devers to hit into a potential inning-ending double play, but Devers made it down the line quickly to beat the throw to first and extend the inning.

"Did a great job," said Marlins manager Clayton McCullough. "Probably just the one hanging slider there to Koss for the homer, but he threw the ball well again. Got a bunch of outs and the rest of the guys behind him tonight really did a good job."

Following Quantrill, McCullough deployed Anthony Bender, who worked 1 ⅓ innings, striking out two. Between Bender, Cade Gibson, Ronny Henriquez and Calvin Faucher, the Marlins bullpen only allowed one hit, which came off of Bender, and even that resulted in an out.

In the top of the seventh inning, Xavier Edwards knocked in a Marlins insurance run, driving in Norby and making it a 4-2 lead. Edwards is slashing .360/.435/.427/.862 with six RBI ever since returning from the IL and making the move to second base.

With the win, the Marlins improved to 32-45.

 

Notes

- Cade Gibson continues to be an unsung hero for this Marlins bullpen. Through 23 ⅔ innings of work (16 appearances), Gibson has a 1.90 ERA and on Tuesday, he struck out two in 1 ⅓ innings of work.

- Max Meyer is scheduled for season-ending left hip labral repair surgery on Friday with Dr. Thomas Byrd in Nashville. The recovery timeline is approximately 6-8 months.

- The Marlins and Toronto Blue Jays are finalizing a trade that will send the recently DFA'd Robinson Piña to the Blue Jays in exchange for 24-year old reliever Colby Martin. Drafted by the Blue Jays last year in the 16th round, Martin has posted a 1.54 ERA, 2.84 FIP, 11.57 K/9 and 5.40 BB/9 through 21 appearances (23.1 IP) between Low-A and High-A.

- The red-hot Edward Cabrera will toe the rubber against Giants ace Logan Webb on Wednesday. The Fish are looking to win back-to-back series, which they have yet to do in 2025. First pitch is at 9:45 pm ET.

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[THOMAS JOSEPH]

These inane contracts, like Verlander's, always have me shaking my head. My prediction is that Texas is also screwed with DeGrom. Despite his recent resurrection, he will soon be injured again. Advanced age pitchers with high injury proclivity. Who's the buffoon responsible for these inane decisions? The baseball "experts" that continually prove the whole thing is a wondrous crapshoot. In other words, blind-ass luck that often manifests from blowing money in huge amounts and praying.