Resilient E-Cab, Marlins bats secure North Side split

In his season debut against the Giants on April 15, Edward Cabrera looked as good as he ever had in his brief big league career, striking out 10 over 6 innings of 1-run ball. The Marlins' second trip aboard the E-Cab in 2024, though coming with a bit more turbulence, proved effective enough with how the Miami hitters responded in their 6-3 victory over the Cubs. 

While the wind further confirmed the city of Chicago's reputation in the series' first three games, Sunday brought with it a "sun game" where fly ball after fly ball was accompanied by outfielders shielding their eyes from the blaring sun. 

Featuring his mix of low-90s changeups, high-90s fastballs, and the at times suspect command we have become accustomed to, Cabrera worked in the most literal sense of the word, allowing 3 runs and scattering 7 hits and 3 walks over 5 innings. Through two starts and 11 innings pitched this season, Cabrera has punched out 17 hitters. 

Cabrera's most laborious inning, a 2-run bottom of the fourth, featured a string of weak hits off the bats of Cubs hitters that saw the right-hander at 85 pitches at the inning's end. Fortunately, a breezy, 11-pitch fifth inning put him in line for his eventual first win of the season.

"Old Cabby would have given up 6 or 7 runs," said manager Skip Schumaker. "It just shows the maturity in him, and that's the guy we're looking for...He's got real stuff, and that's something we've needed in our rotation."

Good fortunes awaited Miami, though, as the bullpen followed Cabrera with 4 scoreless innings, as the tandem of Bryan Hoeing, Andrew Nardi, Calvin Faucher, and Tanner Scott each authored a goose egg frame of their own in the victory. Most encouraging of the bunch was the 1-2-3 ninth inning put forth by Scott, who has now worked 3 consecutive scoreless outings a week after allowing a game-winning home run to Marcell Ozuna. 

After both teams posted zeroes in their respective halves of the first, Miami broke open the scoring when Jesús Sánchez—still without an extra-base hit through his first 50 plate appearances to begin the season—in the words of TV play-by-play man Paul Severino, got every last bit of an 88-mph Kyle Hendricks fastball, depositing it 460 feet over the center field fence. 

As a whole, Sunday against Hendricks proved a reckoning for a Miami club historically offensively oppressed by the crafty right-hander. In 7 career starts entering play, Hendricks owned a 1.28 ERA and .524 opponent OPS against the Marlins. Sánchez and his teammates would have none of it,  touching up the former ERA-champ for 4 runs over his 4 innings. Akin to the Marlins on Sunday, the league has largely had its way with Hendricks, hitting a collective .378 against him through his first 5 starts.

Tied at one apiece heading into the fourth, back-to-back singles from Jazz Chisholm Jr. and Josh Bell would materialize into two of Miami's three runs that inning, the first of which coming on the aforementioned Sánchez's second run-scoring hit of the day, a single to drive in Chisholm.

Though the 3-run fourth would prove sufficient enough for the Marlins bullpen, Miami would tack on runs 5 and 6 in the fifth and seventh, the final coming on Chisholm's second hit of the day and fifth of the weekend series. 

Of Note

- Edward Cabrera becomes the first Marlins pitcher Sandy Alcantara (2021) and just the sixth in franchise history to strike out at least 17 in his first 2 starts of the season. 

- The 113.6 mph tracked on Sánchez's home run made it the hardest-hit ball by a Marlins hitter early in 2024. 

- Calvin Faucher's 8 strikeouts make him the first Marlins reliever to accomplish this feat through his first 4 outings with the club since Huascar Brazoban (7/24-8/2/22).

Looking Ahead

From the Midwest to the Deep South, the Marlins will continue their slate of road games when they travel to Cobb County to begin a three-game series against their division rival Atlanta Braves. 

Ryan Weathers (2-1, 2.70 ERA) will look to keep with his effective ways—having allowed just 1 run over his last 11 innings pitched over his past two starts—as he starts Monday's series opener. Bryce Elder (12-4, 3.81 ERA in 2023) makes his season debut for Atlanta on the opener. 

First pitch from Truist Park is slated for 7:20 EST.