Marlins defense doesn't help Gillispie in Marlins debut

MIAMI, Fla.—When you have a team as young and inexperienced as the Miami Marlins, you’ll have games where you beat yourself. The average age of their position players is 27 years old, second-youngest in the majors.

It showed on Friday night. 

Connor Gillispie, making his first major league start, opened the fourth inning by walking Oneil Cruz. Catcher Liam Hicks, making his MLB debut, tried throwing him out on a steal attempt and sent the ball into the outfield, allowing Cruz to get to third. Gillispie then walked Joey Bart, and allowed Cruz to score one batter later on an Andrew McCutchen double.

Gillispie eventually found himself with the bases loaded and zero outs, but it seemed luck would be on his side. He got Endy Rodriguez to fly out to left fielder Kyle Stowers, and the lefty threw the ball back to the infield at 90 miles per hour to prevent Bart from even thinking of leaving his spot at third base. It was almost a mirror image on the next at-bat. Adam Frazier hit a ball into shallow right field to Griffin Conine, and he fired the ball towards home plate. This time, Bart decided to tag up, and the throw looked like it would beat him to home...except Matt Mervis, playing in his 30th career game at first base, cut the throw off at the bottom of the mound instead of letting it get to Hicks. Bart was safe, and the Pirates took a 2-0 lead.

“I heard ‘cut’ from somewhere behind me, and reaction took over,” Mervis said. “In hindsight, it was a throw that was perfectly on line. Would have been an easy hop for the catcher to handle. So my mistake there.”

The following inning opened with Graham Pauley, making his sixth start at third base, booting a ball hit straight at him, allowing Tommy Pham to reach base. Oneil Cruz took advantage of the error with a line drive home run just inside the right field foul pole to go up 4-0.

The Marlins committed a major league-leading 117 errors in 2024. Their four miscues on Friday have propelled them to an early lead in that category once again.

"We played good defense throughout spring training,” McCullough said. “We didn't make some of the plays that I think we've been making. Those things are going to happen. Our guys will come right back out and work tomorrow. You give people extra outs, it just makes it tough on yourself and your staff.”

Gillispie, who was claimed off waivers by the Marlins over the winter and was starting in place of the injured Ryan Weathers, managed the game well. The 27-year-old righty went five innings, allowed four hits, struck out four, and allowed three earned runs. He struggled a bit with control, walking four and placing only 61.6 percent of his 85 pitches for strikes.

The offense couldn’t do much aside from a Graham Pauley RBI double in the fifth, until Otto Lopez hit a two-run home run in the ninth to cut the deficit to 4-3.

The season-opening series between these clubs continues Saturday at 4:10 pm.