Edward Cabrera almost beat Coors Field

Edward Cabrera nearly defied the cruel confines of Coors Field on Monday. 

After being perfect against the Colorado Rockies lineup the first time through, it looked like Cabrera was going to give the Miami Marlins a memorable performance on night one of a four-game set in Denver. But ultimately, this will blur together with many of his other unsatisfying starts.

Consistent with a year-long trend, Cabrera struggled the second and third time through the order. He walked a tightrope in the fourth inning, holding the home team scoreless despite allowing two singles and a walk to keep the score at 0-0.

After the Marlins notched two runs in the fifth, the Rockies got runners at the corners in the bottom half of the inning with two singles, and tied the game on a sacrifice groundout from Aaron Schunk and a single from Jake Cave.

Much like a casino, the house always wins when you're at Coors Field. After keeping the Rockies limited to exclusively singles in the first five innings, Cabrera allowed a leadoff home run to Ryan McMahon in the sixth inning to give Colorado the 3-2 lead.

Rockies hitters went 6-for-12 with two walks after they faced him for the first time through the lineup. 

Still Cabrera was able to harness two things that are key to his success: his curveball and his control, especially on his changeup.

With Coors Field being at high altitude with thin and dry air, curveballs are often ineffective compared to when they’re thrown at sea level. While Cabrera’s vertical and horizontal break were down from his season average three and four inches, respectively, Rockies hitters still couldn’t figure it out. Three of Cabrera’s eight strikeouts were on the curve. The only curveball put into play was a Sam Hilliard groundout to shortstop in the third inning.

Cabrera threw 14 of his 17 changeups for strikes, compared to 12 of 19 in his last outing against the Arizona Diamondbacks on Aug. 20. He had an overall strike rate of 66.6 percent on Monday.

Notes

-The lone two Marlins runs came on a two-RBI single from Jesús Sánchez in the fifth inning. It was a rare breakthrough for Sánchez with the base loaded—prior to that in his career, he had been 3-for-34 (.088 BA) in such situations.

-Connor Norby singled in the same frame. He’s recorded at least one hit in each of his first seven games as a Marlin.

-Griffin Conine, son of Marlins legend Jeff Conine, made his Major League debut in the ninth inning. He struck out swinging against right-hander Tyler Kinley on five pitches.