After taking a crucial series in Cincinnati, the Marlins flew home to face the world-famous New York Yankees in a three-game weekend set. Unfortunately for Miami, the Yankees offense got to Jesús Luzardo early and took Game 1. Final: 9-4, Yankees.
Although Luzardo was able to work his way out of a scoreless first inning, it was evident that he was going to be in trouble given how the Yankees were working so many deep at-bats. Both Judge and Torres worked full counts.
In the top of the 2nd, the middle of New York’s order put a crooked number on the board. Following back-to-back singles from Giancarlo Stanton and Harrison Bader, Yankees shortstop Anthony Volpe crushed a 3-run home run on a 2-2 count. Luzardo left a middle-middle fastball over the plate for Volpe to ambush, which made it 3-0 early.
Luzardo would go on to allow four more runs which included an Aaron Judge solo home run, Osvaldo Cabrera RBI single, Isiah Kiner-Falefa RBI single, and a Gleyber Torres RBI single to give the Yankees a 7-2 lead.
Luzardo would leave after 3.1 IP with George Soriano assuming mop-up duty.
From the get-go, Luzardo wasn’t attacking the strike zone as much which led to those 3-2 counts and eventually walking batters. He also didn’t get a single whiff on the fastball, which is unusual for Luzardo. Luzardo finished his night in the top of the third with only one out. He struck out two (matching a season low), walked one, gave up nine hits, two home runs, and seven earned runs (a season high). His next start is slated to be against the Houston Astros.
“Second inning was missing location of the fastball was up and out over and the slider he just spun in the dirt a lot more than he is used to,” said Miami Marlins manager Skip Schumaker following the game. “Thought his changeup was actually good but the yeah, the fastball location was just a little bit off, up and out over and it didn’t really generate swing and miss and it’s kind of the story of the game.”
Luzardo added: “I felt like I was searching with it. For the most part with all my pitches, just felt like probably not the best mechanics, really out of whack and then the slider definitely wasn’t there. So I had to rely heavily on the other two pitches.”
Miami did get some runs on the board thankfully. After Jazz Chisholm Jr. got a hit, Jesús Sánchez drove Chisholm Jr. in with an RBI triple. That was Sánchez’s first triple of the season and it made it a 3-1 game.
Miami was able to make it a one-run deficit thanks to an RBI double by Jake Burger who easily drove in Sánchez. The ball left the bat at 112.8 MPH and that was his 18th double of the season. 3-2, Yankees.
After Luzardo ended up giving up four more runs, the game was at 7-2. After Bryan De La Cruz worked a walk, Jake Burger drove him in on an RBI double. Although he was unable to top his previous exit velo, he was able to get his 19th double of the season and the Marlins third run of the game.
Miami’s fourth and final run of the ballgame came thanks to Josh Bell who hit a solo home run to the second deck in right field. The ball left the bat at 107.9 mph and went 407 feet into the air. That was Bell’s 15th home run of the season. Since joining the Marlins, Bell has hit four homers.
Although the Marlins at times were able to keep up with the Yankees, they just seemed to take off in the 9-4 defeat.
Game Notes:
- Aaron Judge’s 22nd home run of the season actually marks his first home run at loanDepot park. Well, his first regular season home run there—he put on a show in Miami during the 2017 Home Run Derby.
- Josh Bell joins Hee-Seop Choi, Derrek Lee, and Jesús Aguilar as the only first baseman to have the most home runs in their first nine games to kick off their Marlins tenure.
- The Marlins projected to have crowds of over 30,000 per night for this series and they cleared that threshold on Friday, though most were rooting for the visiting team.
Photo by John Brophy/Con Las Bases Llenas
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