Fourth straight series loss puts Marlins in more historically bad company

Coming off a firing squad loss the previous night, the Marlins looked to even the series in the Bronx on Tuesday night. They at least made the game somewhat competitive, but still came up empty, dropping to 1-11. Miami is the 19th team in MLB history to lose at least 11 of its first 12 games of a season and first since the 2010 Baltimore Orioles. No team that has started 1-11 or worse has ever finished better than .500 (the 1973 Cardinals finished 81-81). Six of the first 18 teams lost at least 100 games, according to Stathead, including the 1998 Florida Marlins (54-108). 

A.J. Puk got off to a shaky start in the first inning, getting into a first-and-third jam with one out. He was rescued by a slick play from Emmanuel Rivera to cut down the runner trying to score on a groundout by Giancarlo Stanton. 

Having thrown 29 pitches in the first inning, it seemed as though the bullpen would be called upon early in the game. Surprisingly, he made it all the way to the fifth inning and only allowed a single earned run on a home run by Alex Verdugo.

To end the third inning, Bryan De La Cruz robbed Stanton of what would've been a double by making a leaping grab in front of the wall.

Puk almost gave up another home run to Anthony Volpe in the fourth inning, but it just barely hooked foul. Puk responded by inducing a comebacker that he fielded himself to start a much-needed double play. He allowed another run in the fifth inning—albeit unearned—following a two-base error by shortstop Tim Anderson and an RBI double by Stanton.

Puk was removed following the double and was replaced by Sixto Sánchez, who retired Anthony Volpe on a popout to end the inning.

A.J. Puk's final line: 4.2 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 5 BB, 2 K, 1 HR, 98/56 pitches/strikes. He set career highs in innings pitched and pitches thrown in what was his third career MLB start.

“When he’s on the attack, he’s fine," Skip Schumaker said postgame. "We’ve got to get him in the strike zone, on the attack, more consistently. He’s just shooting himself in the foot with the walks...We’ve got to get him deeper into games.”

“The first inning’s been the toughest inning for me so far," Puk said. "I’ve got to do better getting ready and executing from the start.”

The Marlins offense wasn't able to muster much of anything against Carlos Rodón until the seventh inning where they capitalized on an error by Anthony Rizzo to score two runs and bring the game within one. That would be all as they dropped yet another game by the score of 3-2.

Skip on the offense: "Rodón was really good today. I'm just proud of the fight that they had. We had the right guys up at the right time and just couldn't cash in. If they keep doing that, we're going to be okay." 

Through 12 games, the Marlins have already faced seven left-handed starting pitchers. They've lost every one of those matchups. Skip on having to face so many lefties out of the gate: "We’ve had a lot of them—a lot of good ones, too, unfortunately. We’ve just got to figure out a way to put together consistent at-bats.” 

Tim Anderson on Rodón: “He comes at you. He competes. His stuff was moving all over tonight. You couldn’t really lock in on one spot.”

Noah's Notes

• The Marlins have lost six of their last eight games vs. the Yankees and are 17-22 all-time.
• They fell to 3-6 at the current Yankee Stadium.
• They are 0-2 in one-run games after thriving under those circumstances last season.
• Time of game: 2 hours, 35 minutes.
• Jon Berti took a couple minutes to speak with Fish On First about the trade that brought him to the Yanks. Watch the interview here.
• Marcus Stroman vs. Ryan Weathers on Wednesday.
• 'Til Tmrw!