Puk and Cabrera show flashes of promise in loss to Yankees

JUPITER, FL—The Miami Marlins fell to the New York Yankees in a rare spring training night game, 3-2.

The Marlins’ runs came on a Josh Bell double in the sixth inning and a Dane Myers opposite-field home run in the eighth.

Monday was the first time Puk had faced a lineup two times through since 2021 as a member of the Oakland Athletics.

Puk faces lineup a second time for the first time 

With one out in the third inning, he allowed a walk to Anthony Volpe when the lineup flipped back over, but struck out Trent Grisham on a splitter and Gleyber Torres with a four-seam fastball. 

Most importantly, perhaps, was the fact that Puk’s velocity never seemed to waver through his outing. Puk averaged 94 miles per hour on his four-seamer throughout the night. His 46th and final pitch was a four-seamer that registered at 93.5 miles per hour. 

The lefty got into a few deep counts, walking two and throwing 19 balls to 27 strikes. 

“I kind of wanted to see if I could get my cutter going today. It was kind of lacking. It's kind of the pitch that's not completely there yet. Other than that, I'm happy with where my splitter is at. I'm getting a lot of weird swings on it and swinging misses. I mean, that's gonna be huge for me.”’

Puk also incorporated a two-seam fastball to his repertoire this spring, throwing 15 of them on Monday, with seven of them going over for strikes, two hit into play for outs, and one being hit for a single by Gleyber Torres.

Cabrera finds strike zone

Marlins starting pitcher Edward Cabrera followed Puk, also pitching for three innings.

Cabrera allowed zero runs and four hits, while striking out three. Most importantly: he walked zero batters and threw 22 of his 30 pitches for strikes.

The 25-year-old was so efficient, in fact, that he still threw about a dozen more pitches in the Roger Dean Stadium bullpen when his outing was done so he could get more work in.

Cabrera is throwing 70 percent of his pitches for strikes this spring, compared to 59 percent last regular season. It should be noted, however, that Cabrera’s strike percentage was also up last spring, before coming back down to earth in the regular season.

While it’s hard to gauge whether a player’s spring performance will carry over into the regular season, Marlins manager Skip Schumaker said there’s reason to believe Cabrera has grown as a pitcher.

“Won't know until we get there, but it's encouraging, I'll tell you that,” Schumaker said. “Every year you get more mature and you grow up a little bit more. Last year, it was an up-and-down year for him. And I think he ended on a good note. Hopefully it's carried over into the offseason.”

One of those metrics Schumaker has seen is Cabrera’s ability to hold runners. With one out in the fifth inning, he picked off Spencer Jones at first base.

“That shows you that the game is slowing down and there's some maturity in there,” Schumaker said.

Tanner has control issues

Tanner Scott struggled Monday, allowing four walks and three runs without recording an out. While his spring hasn’t been stellar, Schumaker said he’s not worried about Scott.

“It's my fault, honestly,” Schumaker said. ”He hasn't pitched in five days. If you guys know Tanner, he likes to throw every single day. If I give him three days in a row, he's pissed that he's down on the fourth day. So he needs to get in a better rhythm. And the only way to do that is to pitch."

Scott will likely get more reps as roster cuts are made and the bullpen thins out.