Alex Krutchik

Maybe this isn’t a hot start for Luis Arraez. Maybe it’s just who he is. The 26-year-old is back at .400 after going 5-for-5 against the Toronto Blue Jays on Monday night. Arraez became just the second player in Marlins history to record five four-hit games in a season, after Hanley Ramirez did it in 2007. Per the Marlins, Arraez is also the fourth player to record five or more hits in a game at least three times in a calendar month in the modern era, joining George Sisler, Ty Cobb, and Dave Winfield. “Everything he does is infectious,” Marlins manager Skip Schumaker said after Miami’s 11-0 win over the Blue Jays on Monday. “His process is infectious. The way he gameplans is infectious. His personality in that clubhouse, he’s always upbeat. I mean, I’d be upbeat too if I was 5-for-5 every day.” https://fishonfirst.com/game-coverage/marlins-blue-jays-highlights-shutout/We’ve seen players come close to eclipsing .400 since Boston Red Sox Hall of Famer Ted Williams hit .406 in 1941. In 1999, Colorado Rockies outfielder Larry Walker held a .435 batting average as late as May 21 before going on a 6-for-34 skid that dropped his average to .373. Walker’s average would continue to go up and down, but it didn’t go back above .400 for the rest of the year. He ended the season hitting .379. The thing with Arraez is—and knock on wood a few times after reading this—he appears to be almost slump-proof. Arraez had already been above the .400 mark as recently as June 10. But after going hitless in 12 at-bats against the Seattle Mariners, it dipped down to .378. He proceeded to rack up five hits in the series opener against the Washington Nationals two days later. “I mean, I’m human,” Arraez said after the game Monday. “(Seattle) throws really hard. They threw a lot of fastballs to me. I don't know why I didn’t get hits. But I’m human. So I changed my mind and I said, ‘Okay, I’ll go do something good.’ Then the first day in Washington I got my 5-for-5, and now I’m back.” https://video.twimg.com/ext_tw_video/1670976668133990407/pu/vid/1280x720/acthDfDpQneua1YM.mp4Arraez’s five-hit Monday night helped set the tone for starting pitcher Bryan Hoeing’s night as well. Taking Edward Cabrera’s spot in the rotation after Cabrera went on the 15-day IL with right shoulder impingement, Hoeing pitched four scoreless innings. Although he wound up not needing all 11 runs of support, Arraez was one of many Marlins hitters that evening that gave Hoeing a big cushion. “It’s unconscious,” Hoeing said. “You can't make this stuff up. I was talking to some of my buddies and I was saying that he’s doing stuff in the big leagues that people would do in little league baseball. Hitting .400, you don’t see that here. Honestly it’s just a joy to be a part of and see that in person every single night.” With Arraez’s five-hit performance on Monday, he is outpacing Ichiro Suzuki’s record-breaking 262-hit season in 2004. Suzuki had 97 hits through 67 games, while Arraez now has 102. Arraez’s accomplishments are being recognized around the league. "I've never quite seen anyone do what Arraez is doing right now,” Blue Jays manager John Schneider said after Monday’s game. “(He's hitting) balls in the zone, out of the zone... He's hitting.400 for a reason." Featured photo by Danis Sosa/Fish On First

The Miami Marlins offense just had to get to the bullpen portion of the afternoon against the Washington Nationals. Tied 1-1 in the seventh inning after being neutralized by Nationals starting pitcher Jake Irving for five innings and reliever Jordan Weems Saturday afternoon, the Marlins simply had to sit back and wait for Nationals reliever Chad Kuhl to make mistakes. Kuhl allowed a leadoff walk to Jonathan Davis, followed immediately by a Nick Fortes single that moved Davis to third. After going down 2-0 to Luis Arraez with one out, Kuhl intentionally walked him to face Jorge Soler with the bases loaded. Kuhl walked Soler on four pitches – none of the pitches were particularly close – to drive home the go-ahead run. On the next at-bat, Kuhl threw a wild pitch to Bryan De La Cruz that allowed Fortes to score. The Marlins got more insurance runs in the ninth when De La Cruz hit a two-run single down the right field line. The Nationals bullpen, which came into the game ranked 19th in the majors with a 4.19 ERA, allowed four runs to Miami on Saturday. Marlins starting pitcher Braxton Garrett kept Miami in the game before the offense turned back on. After allowing a first-inning triple to Luis Garcia, Garrett retired nine batters in a row before allowing a double to Jeimer Candelario and an RBI-single to Joey Meneses. Garrett allowed a walk to Stone Garrett to put two runners on base. After a long mound visit by pitching coach Mel Stottlemeyer, Jr., Garrett got Dominic Smith to ground into an inning-ending double play. That was the only run Garrett allowed in his six innings of work. He allowed four hits and one walk while striking out eight. The Marlins now stand at 40-31. June 17 is the earliest the franchise has reached 40 wins since 1997.

The Miami Marlins entered the ninth inning on Saturday having scored zero runs against the Chicago White Sox, despite racking up seven hits, three walks, and getting hit-by-pitch twice. They had left 11 runners on base through eight innings and went 0-for-11 with runners in scoring position. Then, the Marlins ticked and tacked their way to a go-ahead run in the ninth, and notched four more insurance runs before the inning was over. Garrett Cooper (pinch-hitting after leaving Friday's game with elbow discomfort after a collision with Elvis Andrus at first base) and Luis Arraez led off the inning with consecutive singles. Jorge Soler then walked to load the bases against White Sox closer Joe Kelly. Bryan De La Cruz then hit a chopper to shortstop Tim Anderson, who committed an error while transferring the ball from his glove to his throwing hand, allowing pinch-runner Jonathan Davis to score the tying run. Next up, Jesús Sánchez drew a full-count walk to drive home the go-ahead run. The Marlins got an insurance run on the next at-bat when Yuli Gurriel grounded into a fielder’s choice for the first out of the inning, which allowed Jorge Soler to score. For those keeping score at home: that’s three runs without registering a hit, and still 0-for-15 with runners in scoring position. The only hit with runners in scoring position on Saturday afternoon was a Jean Segura two-RBI double later in the inning. For better or worse, Saturday afternoon’s win was a vintage Sandy Alcantara start: low-scoring, efficient, heavy on the ground balls, and zero run support while he was still in the game. Alcantara’s only mistake was a first-pitch fastball left over the plate against Andrew Vaughn that he cranked over the right field for a solo home run in the fourth inning. Outside of that one pitch, Alcantara had a successful day. He did not allow any other runs during his seven innings of work, and only allowed three hits and two walks. Eight of his first nine outs he recorded were ground outs, and finished the day with 12. His 68.4 ground ball rate vs. the White Sox was in stark contrast to his overall 2023 rate of 47.3%, up from 54.2% in his Cy Young-winning 2022. https://mlb-cuts-diamond.mlb.com/FORGE/2023/2023-06/10/ad1fb192-ad9a3864-478a2a6a-csvm-diamondx64-asset_1280x720_59_16000K.mp4This approach works especially well when the fielders behind you make both the routine and the extraordinary plays: With the Marlins losing on Friday night, Saturday’s victory was another data point in an odd trend for Alcantara: he has a 7.41 ERA this season following a team win, and a 2.68 ERA following a team loss. Steven Okert got the vulture win with a scoreless eighth inning, and A.J. Puk pitched a scoreless ninth.

For only the fifth time all year, the Miami Marlins have lost a one-run game. Marlins reliever Dylan Floro, beginning the ninth inning with Miami and the Chicago White Sox tied at 1-1, allowed a leadoff single to Elvis Andrus and allowed him to reach second base on a wild pitch to Tim Anderson. Floro struck out Anderson on a slider low and away, but left another slider over the plate to Luis Robert Jr. two batters later. Robert got a hold of it and slapped the ball down the left field line, driving home Andrus for the game-winning run. While Floro had been a trustworthy set-up man for Miami in the first month of the year, he has had shaky results in the past four weeks. Since May 7, he has a 6.75 ERA and has allowed runs in four of his 14 appearances. In his first 13 appearances this year, he had only given up run(s) in one outing, posting a 1.98 ERA. Friday's loss to Chicago was Floro’s third time allowing the winning/go-ahead run in the ninth inning since May 12. The Marlins pitching staff had been smothering the White Sox lineup until that decisive ninth inning. Eury Pérez, starting his sixth major league game at 20 years old, had his composure and command tested early. After going down 1-0 in the second inning from a solo home run to Yasmani Grandal, Pérez loaded the bases with no outs in the third inning by allowing singles to Andrus and Anderson, and a walk to Andrew Benintendi. It looked like the White Sox were about to blow the doors off the Marlins, with the No. 3-4-5 hitters coming up. Instead, Pérez struck out robert on a slider low in the zone, was helped by third baseman Jean Segura when he snared an Andrew Vaughn line drive that would have scored at least two runners, and got Yoan Moncada to fly out to center field. https://sporty-clips.mlb.com/1d9cd36b-16b9-452a-a816-49e48262f984.mp4According to MLB.com, Chicago’s win probability peaked at 81.3% after they loaded the bases, and went down to 62.9 after Moncada’s flyout. Pérez ended the night after five innings, giving up the one run on the Grandal home run in the second inning, striking out six, and walking two. Marlins relievers Tanner Scott, JT Chargois, and Andrew Nardi combined for three scoreless innings. Scott has not allowed a run since May 14 (14 outings). His ERA has dropped from 4.91 to 2.90 in that span. The lone Marlins run was a Joey Wendle solo home run to right field in the fifth inning. Wendle is on a six-game hit streak. He’s gone 10-for-23 with four doubles over that span. Garrett Cooper (left elbow soreness) will undergo an MRI on Saturday, according to MLB.com's Christina De Nicola, after Elvis Andrus collided with him at first base during the third inning.

A common theme through the first two months of the season has been the Miami Marlins racking up hits without being able to drive them home. But Tuesday’s series opener against the San Diego Padres may have been the most frustrating. The Marlins recorded ten hits and were walked eight times. They loaded the bases twice. And yet, they mustered four runs. The latter of the bases-loaded situation was in the bottom of the sixth. Bryan De La Cruz drove in one run on a single, while each runner advanced one base each. Jorge Soler, who came into the game having hit six home runs in his last eight games while posting a .361 batting average, struck out. Luis Arraez then uncharacteristically grounded into an inning-ending double play (his second of the night). Arraez had grounded into just seven double plays coming into Tuesday. The following inning Soler came to bat once again, tied at 4-4 with runners at first and second. He grounded into a double play to end the inning. Overall the Marlins – who lead the majors with 59 double plays – went 2-for-10 with runners in scoring position and left 11 runners on base. The Marlins took the initial lead in the third inning when De La Cruz scored on a Garrett Cooper single. De La Cruz, starting at leadoff for the first time in his Major League career, then hit a two-run home run to give Miami a 3-1 lead in the fourth. “In baseball, you always have highs and lows,” De La Cruz said via a translator. “And you’ve got to take advantage of those opportunities. I think we're playing well. But between those highs and lows, I think today was one of those lows. We’ve got to take that positive from today's game and try to bring it back tomorrow.” The Marlins came into Tuesday averaging the fourth-lowest runs per game in the majors (3.76) despite having the ninth-best batting average in the league (.258). Marlins starting pitcher Sandy Alcantara was cruising through six innings, having thrown less than 80 pitches thanks to a couple of 1-2-3 innings. Entering the seventh with a 4-2 lead, Alcantara walked the first two batters of the inning and allowed a Fernando Tatis Jr. RBI-single before being relieved by left-hander Tanner Scott. The Padres went 1-for-7 with two walks their third time against Alcantara. Maybe it was the long west coast road trip with zero call-ups to help the bullpen, or maybe it was just the inevitable result of being without their shutdown closer in A.J. Puk, but Tuesday was the night the bullpen collapsed, beginning with Scott and his inherited runners at first and second base. Scott allowed an RBI single to Juan Soto to tie the game at 4-4, but got out of the inning after striking out Xander Bogaerts and Rougned Odor. JT Chargois and Andrew Nardi combined for a shutout eighth inning. Dylan Floro, who had been extremely effective in his eighth inning role before Puk went on the injured list on May 14, gave up five runs in the ninth inning to essentially put the nail in the coffin of a possible comeback. Only three of those runs were earned, however. After Tatis walked to begin the ninth, he stole second base and advanced to third on a throwing error by catcher Nick Fortes, who had just entered as a defensive replacement. After intentionally walking Juan Soto, Xander Bogaerts drove home Soto to take the lead. But the defensive miscues didn’t end there. With runners at the corners in the next at-bat, Rougned Odor hit a ground ball to shortstop Jon Berti. Berti threw home in an attempt to throw out Soto, but fired the throw wide right. The Padres put up three more runs on a Matt Carpenter two-RBI double and a Ha-Seong Kim RBI single. Lefties Blake Snell and Braxton Garrett are the probable starters for Wednesday's game (6:40 p.m. first pitch).