Ryan Weathers' shaky start backed up by a strong offensive night

JUPITER, FL—On Friday night, Ryan Weathers went up against Paul Goldschmidt, Nolan Arenado and several other St. Louis Cardinals Opening Day starters. Weathers entered the game as a major bright spot for the Marlins, with only two total runs allowed during spring training, but his final line in this one was less impressive: 4.1 IP, 7 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 4 SO, 1 HR, 79 NP.

"I don't know why, the first couple of innings, I just couldn't pick up their approach," said Weathers after the game. "Approach switch-up, stuff in the strike zone. I think it was just I needed a little bit of a game point adjustment."

Going with his usual fastball/changeup combo, Weathers did get a lot of swings, but just not the type that he would want. St. Louis hitters recorded even more hard-hit balls than whiffs.

Weathers fastball velocity topped out at 97.2 mph, which came on the fourth pitch of the game. Weathers averaged 95.7 mph with the four-seam fastball and also went to his sinker, sweeper and changeup. Although the sinker specifically saw some hitters biting at it, the four-seamer is what carried his start on the night as he struck out three out of the four batters with it and only one with the changeup.

With only one start left to go this spring, Weathers isn't thinking about all the injuries going on in the Marlins rotation and it is all "tunnel vision" for the Marlins starter. "Just gotta keep throwing the ball. My job is to throw the ball every time I am out there and just put myself in the best position."

Along with Weathers the Marlins offense backed him up through most of the game, putting up sevens runs, highlighted by a three run top of the second and fifth. Five Marlins ended the night with multi-hit games and one of those was Josh Bell, who went 2-for-2 with an RBI single.

"Feel good and it was good to get three at-bats right handed today," said Bell. "Had a good long work today and was trying to hit the ball the other way. Worked out tonight, kept me off from chasing pitches."

The expectation this season is that Bell will be the team's primary first baseman, but as was the case this evening, he will also get a considerable amount of games at designated hitter. A couple days ago, Marlins manager Skip Schumaker had told the media that the DH spot isn't comfortable for everyone. For Bell, he has found a good rhythm there.

"You feel like, longer innings," said Bell. "You want to take the first pitch, stuff like that. You have to stay active with those thoughts remembering that you have other guys that are playing on the field, but aside from that, I think the attack plan stays the same. Regardless whether or not I am at first base, the work in the cage should stay the same."

The only home run of the night for the Marlins came from utility man Jon Berti, who hit a three-run homer to left field. The ball left the bat 96.8 miles per hour and it went 374 feet.

Through the first 25 at-bats for Tim Anderson, he has five hits, one of those being the solo home run he hit against the New York Mets in Port St. Lucie. On Friday, Anderson knocked in a double, marking his second extra-base hit of the spring.

In his sixth appearance of the 2024 Grapefruit League season, Anthony Bender went one inning, struck out two and only gave up one base hit. Bender averaged 97.0 mph on the sinker and was able to make hitters work, with five whiffs. Bender has struck out eight hitters and only given up one earned run.

Game notes

- In his first Grapefruit League at-bat, minor leaguer Jake DeLeo took pitcher Wilking Rodríguez deep in the top of the ninth inning. The ball left the bat at 98.8 mph and it went 387 feet deep into the Miami Marlins offices.

- Avisail Garcia was among the five Marlins hitters who had multi-hit nights, going 2-for-4 with two RBIs.

- Trevor Rogers will be the starting pitcher on Saturday when the Marlins take on the Philadelphia Phillies.

- Skip Schumaker will be away from the team for a couple days due to personal reasons. Bench coach Luis Urueta is taking over as interim manager.