Cold bats responsible for ninth straight Marlins loss

Still looking for their first win of the season, the Marlins went righty-heavy to try and produce some runs off of 32-year-old Cardinals veteran Steven Matz. The Marlins have been unable to hold leads late in games so far this season. However, they never even held a lead on Saturday. The Marlins pitching staff was able to keep the Cardinals in check for the majority of the game, but with no production from the bats, they ultimately fell 3-1.

Through the first four innings, the Marlins went 0-for-4 with runners in scoring position and it didn't get much better after that. They were shut out for the first seven innings of this game, which made it 10 straight innings without a run going back to Thursday's game. 

Trevor Rogers was on the mound for the Marlins in his second start of the season and this game showed flashes of improvement from his first start. Rogers had a good slider going and he was able to use it to get some big outs early in the game. However, the changeup was knocked around a bit, responsible for three of the five hits he gave up.

Rogers exited after the fifth with his final line being 5 IP, 5 H, 3 R (2 ER), 3 BB, 3 SO. 

Saturday was the debut of new Marlin Emmanuel Rivera and it was a positive day for him as he was able to get on base twice. His first at-bat was an 11-pitch battle against Matz that ended in a walk. He also notched his first hit in the fifth inning. 

There was a lot of traffic on the base paths for both teams in the early innings, but clutch two-out pitching from both Matz and Rogers would keep this game tied at zero. In the first three-and-a-half innings, the Marlins and Cardinals combined for six runners left on base. 

Jordan Walker would finally get the scoring started in the bottom of the fourth by hustling out the box to stretch a possible single into an RBI double. Rogers would then do himself no favors as he tried to pickoff a runner at first, but the throw got away from Jake Burger allowing a second Cardinal run.

The Cardinals had a big chance to blow this game out of the water in the sixth inning after back-to-back singles and a walk loaded the bases for Paul Goldschmidt. Bryan Hoeing was on the mound trying to keep the game close and he was able to get Goldschmidt to roll over on a first-pitch sinker. 

Hoeing typically is a long reliever, but in this case, he was only used for one inning. When asked about this role switch, manager Skip Schumaker said, "I don't know. We are trying to figure it out, honestly. He's done a nice job in the length role, but we are trying to figure out how to hold games and close games out."

The Marlins' lone run came in the eighth with a double from Luis Arraez that was followed by Josh Bell's hard line drive into right-center field to drive him in.

St. Louis closer Ryan Helsley came in for the ninth to seal the deal and leave the Marlins as the only winless team in baseball.  

The Marlins will now look to avoid another sweep Sunday vs. the Cardinals. Max Meyer will get the ball for the Marlins and he is facing off against Kyle Gibson with first pitch set for 2:15 EST.