Marlins scratch out first spring win led by De La Cruz, non-roster invitees

JUPITER, FL—Bryan De La Cruz and a cast of non-roster invitees starred in a high-scoring affair on Saturday afternoon at Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium, allowing the Marlins to surpass some very early spring woes on the mound and overcome the St. Louis Cardinals by a score of 9-8.

The Marlins' offense got things started early against Matthew Liberatore. After Josh Bell walked and was moved to second by a wild pitch, Bryan De La Cruz struck for an RBI double that left his bat at 111.7 mph. De La Cruz was then plated by Jesús Sánchez on a single to give Ryan Weathers a two run lead before he toed the rubber.

De La Cruz was back at it again in his next at-bat. With the bases full of Marlins, he continued to seer the baseball well and cleared them with his second double. A ball which left his bat at 110.5 mph. De La Cruz had the two hardest hit balls of the day.

Young players including multiple non-roster invitees made a lot of noise with their bats, leading to a good first impression upon manager Skip Schumaker and staff. Tristan Gray got in on the fun in the 4th. On the first pitch he saw, he cranked his first home run of the spring to right field on a cutter left up. Gray later proved he can get on base when he sees more than one pitch by working a walk against JoJo Romero. Gray has been an early standout in camp.

Not to be outdone by De La Cruz, Victor Mesa Jr. participating in his first big league camp, also recorded two doubles. The second of the pair came in the Marlins' pivotal 8th inning. With two outs, Mesa got the rally started by rocketing a ball to dead-center field and off the warning track. Then, Jonah Bride's two-run single and Griffin Conine's loud double center put the Marlins back ahead for good and proved to be the winning run.

Schumaker believes the group of NRIs as well as Bride and Mesa Jr are making the most of their opportunity to impress so far this spring.

"They want to make a name for themselves and there's roster battles," Schumaker said. "In spring training, you face different types of pitches later in the game and that's the reality but you don't get to pick who you face. You're supposed to take the baton and whoever you face, you face." 

Ryan Weathers started for Miami and after giving up solid contact to his first hitter Dylan Carlson, surrendered a double to Nolan Gorman who took a 95 mph fastball to the warning track in right field. A second double by Nolan Gorman on a Weathers changeup that caught a lot of plate gave St. Louis their first run. Nick Fortes made a heads-up play to get Weathers out of his first inning by picking Gorman off at first.

"I think Nick just caught Arenado off guard," Schumaker said of the play. "I'm not sure if (he) maybe forgot the count...But yeah, kind of a heads-up play in your first game."

Weathers got the first out of the second inning quickly, albeit once again on hard contact. He then gave up two free baserunners via a walk and hit by pitch paving the way for Jose Fermin to drive in the tying run. Weathers was removed after his expected two innings of work. With spotty command especially of his fastball, (38 pitches, 20 strikes), he allowed two runs on three hits and a walk while striking out one.

"First inning (my command was spotty), second inning was better," Weathers said. "I would say it was probably 50/50. I didn't really accomplish what I wanted to accomplish, wanting to be really good with the first-pitch strike. That was kind of what got me behind the eight ball to a couple batters."

In relief of Weathers, Bryan Hoeing pitched two innings, giving up two hits and an earned run with a walk and three strikeouts. Despite the walk, Hoeing was very economical with his pitches needing just 23 to get through two frames.

Josh Simpson, who has been highly spoken of this spring, entered in the 5th. He struggled with his control throughout his appearance. He hit his first two batters before allowing an RBI single to Cesar Prieto. After the Cardinals loaded the bases via a walk, Matt Koperniak brought St Louis back to within a run on an infield base hit. Simpson was unable to finish his inning of work. Austin Roberts relieved Simpson and allowed the Cardinals to tie the game on a wild pitch. All three runs in the inning were charged to Simpson. This early in spring training when everyone is working on something, Schumaker isn't concerned.

"It's six weeks of spring training and there's a lot of teaching moments and learning lessons," Schumaker said. "We'll look back and see what it looked like; his curveball it looked like he was casting a little bit, a lot of arm side misses, a couple hit by pitch. We'll take a look. Mel and  Beef are really good at identifying some stuff. And again, first game of spring." 

After NRI hurler Declan Cronin and his tricky offspeed stuff threw a scoreless 6th, lefty Kent Emanuel allowed three hits and a run in the 7th. Yet another NRI, Jeff Lindgren threw the final two frames for Miami and recorded a two inning save.

The Marlins will be back in action against Sunday afternoon for their spring home opener against the Washington Nationals. Jesús Luzardo draws the start for Miami.

Other notes:

-Tim Anderson's signing was made official and he was present at Marlins' camp for the first time today. It has not yet been decided when he will appear in game action.

-Dax Fulton spoke about his rehab from his most recent elbow surgery, stating he has started throwing off flat ground three times a week. He is recovering from a UCL injury he sustained this past season, which cost him all of 2023. There is still no timetable set for when he will return to full action.

-JT Chargois (neck spasms) did not throw live BP on Friday as scheduled.

-Eury Pérez has been announced as Monday's probable starter in a rematch with the Cardinals.