Nate Karzmer

MIAMI—It’s Wednesday, May 15, 2024. Jazz Chisholm Jr., Bryan De La Cruz and Josh Bell headlined the Marlins' lineup in a 2-0 series-clinching victory in Detroit behind a solid start from Trevor Rogers. Around baseball, Aaron Judge launched a 467-foot home run and ripped three additional doubles against Minnesota while Adley Rutschman walked off the Blue Jays with a two-run blast of his own. Oh, and out at Petco Park, Colorado picked up a surprising sweep of the Padres. Unbeknownst to the young Rockies at the time, they wouldn't experience that sensation again for a long, long time. After ending that season 40 games under .500, Colorado entered their 20th series of 2025 as the laughingstock of not just MLB, but all of sports. The other 1993 expansion team came into Miami with a near-impossible 9-50 record. For a Marlins team that just played fellow NL West division opponents in the Padres and Giants fairly competitively, the weekday three-gamer was the most “get right” series they would see all season. Perhaps the Fish would even record their first sweep of their 2025 campaign, just as they did a season ago against these same Rockies. Instead, following Wednesday’s 3-2 matinee, it was Colorado who broke out the brooms for the first time since that mid-May evening in 2024, now 385 days ago. Continuing a theme that began following the second inning on Monday, the Marlins were unable to sustain any offensive success. Rockies starter Kyle Freeland, who has been one of MLB’s unluckiest arms thus far—a 3.67 FIP compared to a 5.72 ERA—carved up Miami’s bats all afternoon long. The southpaw was superb through six innings, holding the Marlins to two hits on a minuscule 78 pitches. It wasn’t until the seventh when he ran into trouble, and even then, it was due to Orlando Arcia’s error at short that kickstarted Miami’s rally. Following Arcia’s mishap, back-to-back hits from Eric Wagaman and Heriberto Hernández put Miami right back in it. The rally even looked like it would end with a tie game, but a perfect relay from the Rockies defense and subsequent tag on Jesús Sánchez from, you guessed it, Jacob Stallings, spoiled Liam Hicks’ double. The slight spark of offense ended up being the closest Miami got all day, as they went down in order in both the eighth and ninth. On the contrary, things would’ve looked considerably more bleak if not for Freeland's teammate a year ago, Marlins starter Cal Quantrill. Quantrill endured a rough opening frame, allowing extra-base hits to both Thairo Estrada and Hunter Goodman—who accumulated five RBI in the series—but settled down and persevered through five innings. The veteran right-hander continued his recent run of allowing two earned runs or less in each of his past four starts (the second run crossed in the fifth). A well-mixed arsenal was the solution for Quantrill, as the 30-year-old threw five different pitches on at least ten occasions, plus seven cutters. Quantrill found most success with his patented splitter, as the breaking pitch recorded four of his nine whiffs and was responsible for one of just two strikeouts. “I think I threw alright. First couple innings were a grind, I settled in after that," Quantrill told reporters postgame. "(Nick) Fortes and I got on a little better rhythm as we went. I've thrown the ball well the last five, six, seven times out...I think I didn't have my best stuff today. I thought we grinded well—something you can rest your head on a little bit easier tonight”. After a bumpy start to his Marlins career, Quantrill owns a 3.25 ERA since the start of May. For a rotation that's reintroducing Eury Pérez in the next week, Miami's free agent signing getting back on track will prove key moving forward. As we’ve come to expect, Janson Junk came on in bulk relief for the final four innings. Junk was solid yet again, striking out six while allowing just a lone run to cross. “I'm still learning. I'm still trying to figure out that routine and stuff. But it's an everyday process. So, even though I'm long relief and I'm going out there, preparing like I'm part of the whole plan. Even though I probably won't throw the day after, I'm going out there just to mentally lock in,” Junk told Fish On First about his new role last week. With the sweep in the books, Miami falls to 14 games under .500. Manager Clayton McCullough said it’s a "frustrating" loss, but that the team will need to rebound before things snowball. “The whole week here it’s just frustrating that we did a lot of things well, but certainly not enough to come up on the winning end. We'll just regroup from this and just go. We have to go on, right? This league is unrelenting, and we’ll get back at it after the off day tomorrow in Tampa, and get back to winning some ball games.” The main thing that the Marlins did not do well on the just-completed homestand was hit for power. No Miami player homered over the course of those six games. It was their first homerless homestand of multiple series since July 11-21, 2022. Neither team has officially announced a starter for Friday’s series opener, although it is expected that McCullough will roll with Edward Cabrera, coming off debatably the best month of his career. Cabrera boasted a flat 2.00 ERA in May, by virtue of refined command and feel for his pitch mix. Following his previous start—a scoreless 5 ⅓ inning effort a Saturday ago—the 27-year-old noted that his past stretch has been the most comfortable he’s felt at the highest level. First pitch from the Rays' temporary home at George M. Steinbrenner Field is set for an unconventional 1:10. View full article

MIAMI—Not even 24 hours following a Cal Quantrill/Kyle Harrison pitching duel on Friday night, the Marlins and the Giants starting arms went for round two on Saturday afternoon. This time around, 2021 Cy Young winner Robbie Ray—who had been 7-0 this season—went mano a mano against Edward Cabrera, riding an excellent month of May and coming off a ten-strikeout performance a Sunday ago in Anaheim. The sequel featured even less scoring than the original, culminating 1-0 in Miami’s favor, with Javier Sanoja’s two-out RBI single in the second inning being the difference. After falling into a bases-loaded jam in the first, Cabrera punched out Willy Adames and Mike Yastrzemski. That gave him momentum to nearly author his first quality start of his season. “After I got through (the first inning), what I was thinking is, 'once I get back, I have to attack. It doesn't matter if they hit me, I just got to go out there and attack and get as many as I can,'" Cabrera told reporters postgame through translator Luis Dorante Jr. Cabrera’s plan paid off, as the next 4 ⅓ innings were smooth sailing for the 27-year-old. Giants hitters mustered just three hits before a walk and a single forced Clayton McCullough to go to his bullpen, where Ronny Henriquez sat down Tyler Fitzgerald to end the frame. The fifth-year arm generated plenty of swing-and-miss, as 25% of his offerings were whiffed on. Cabrera’s most-used pitch, the power changeup, was responsible for 8 of the 11 whiffs. Most importantly for Cabrera—as seen throughout the entire month—the command once again was steady. He threw 18 first-pitch strikes to 24 batters faced. He issued three walks, though two of them were in two-out, bases-empty situations. With another solid outing in the books, Cabrera finishes May with a stunning 2.00 ERA with a 8/28 BB/K ratio. Suddenly, the full-season ERA sits at 4.17, an eye-popping improvement from his 7.23 April. “He's just executing all his pitches. He's throwing everything for a strike. Everything looks really sharp. He's throwing hard,’” said his catcher Nick Fortes. “His misses are competitive misses—there's no spray. He's just right around where he wants it to be so it makes it tough for them to make a decision.” When asked if his recent stretch has been the most comfortable he’s felt in MLB, Cabrera answered, “Yes. I feel good. I feel healthy, which is the most important part—feeling great”. Henriquez, Anthony Bender and Calvin Faucher followed suit out of the bullpen, forfeiting a combined two hits in the final 3 ⅓ innings. “The pitching across the board was great. Cabby was terrific. His ability that first inning to navigate through and get through that unscathed was big for us. Ronnie coming in and getting a big punchout to end a threat, throwing up another zero. Bender as well, and then Faucher at the end. Those guys threw the ball great.” Not to go unnoticed, Cabrera and Henriquez got serious assistance from outfielders Heriberto Hernández and Dane Myers, both of whom delivered incredible catches in the 4th and 6th, respectively. Hernández took away what would’ve likely been a homer from Fitzgerald, tracking the deep fly ball all the way to the warning track before taking flight. “I respect the pitchers when they’re grinding. I think that was the least I could do. You know, just run hard and try to do the best I could,” noted Hernández, playing in his second game in The Show. wwhg80_1.mp4 Myers, on the other hand, sacrificed his body for a spectacular leaping catch to rob Jung Hoo Lee of extra bases, and more importantly, keep Miami in the lead. Revisiting Ray, the 33-year-old thoroughly dominated outside of Sanoja’s knock, holding Miami to one additional hit in his seven-inning outing. Ray struck out nine, four apiece coming on his changeup and fastball. Ryan Weathers is set to go for the Marlins on Sunday’s rubber match. He has allowed a minuscule two earned runs in his first three starts. Second-year righty Hayden Birdsong gets the nod for San Francisco. Birdsong started his sophomore campaign in the bullpen, but broke into the rotation following Jordan Hicks’ disastrous performance earlier this season. In two starts, Birdsong has been solid, punching out ten in 9 ⅓ innings of work. First pitch from "Spongebob Day" at loanDepot park is set for 1:40. View full article

The Fightin' Fish are alive and well in San Diego. A sweep looked inevitable. Sandy Alcantara walked off the mound at Petco Park following a cruel fourth inning, having buried the Marlins in a five-run hole with five innings to get themselves out. It turns out, all they needed was one. A furious top of the fifth inning saw the Marlins' offense get back all five runs, including three on Otto Lopez's fourth long ball of the season. Two innings later, Gavin Sheets made sure to watch his go-ahead home run in the seventh, but Miami retaliated with three more of their own in just a half-inning's time. Ronny Henriquez and Calvin Faucher—the San Diego native and UC Irvine alum—recorded six consecutive outs to steal Wednesday's rollercoaster matinee and fly back to Miami with a .500 record on their two-city road trip. It was a sensational day for Miami's bats, especially considering their inability to sustain offense in games one and two after strong first frames. Both Lopez and Eric Wagaman were fundamental in Miami's comeback, spraying three hits apiece and combining for four RBI. Jesús Sánchez started the aforementioned rally with a solo homer of his own. Even eight-hole Javier Sanoja came through multiple times with two doubles on the afternoon as well. Nobody, though, was more impactful than Agustín Ramírez. The rookie sensation enjoyed his first four-hit day as a big leaguer and showed up clutch when his team needed him the most. Ramírez started his day in the third by sending out his seventh homer, tying Dylan Crews and Jacob Wilson among MLB rookies, a fact even more impressive considering Ramirez has played 14 and 22 fewer games than those two. As his team was chipping away two innings later, Ramírez dropped a two-out single to plate Sanoja. After recording another base hit in the seventh, the 23-year-old stepped to the plate with the bases loaded and two outs and his team down by one in the eighth. The moment was nowhere near too big. In near-identical fashion to his second knock, Ramírez laced a Wandy Peralta sinker to center for two additional RBI and a Marlins lead with six outs remaining. With his biggest day as a major leaguer in the books, the potential future face of franchise is now slashing .262/.318/.525. To say Ramírez has been fantastic in just over a month at the highest level would be a severe understatement. Perhaps the only negative to come out of the exhilarating win was the current face of the franchise, Alcantara. In what has become a despairing theme, Sandy continued to simply miss his spots—notably with his four-seam—leading to hard contact and walks. Things looked fine through three, with just one earned run in the second, before the blowup that was the fourth. In a new and concerning twist, Alcantara was unable to create swing-and-miss. Even with an all-world arsenal like his, Alcantara failed to strike out any Padre in his four innings of work. It's only the second time in his career as a starter that he has failed to do so, the other instance having occurred in April of 2019. Sandy only generated one whiff in 71 pitches thrown. Thanks to the extraordinary run support that he received, Alcantara snapped a personal losing streak that had spanned his previous seven starts. There were 18 combined runs scored, the third-highest total for any Marlins game this season. Instead of making the hour and a half flight north to the Bay Area, the Marlins will host the Giants this weekend back home at loanDepot park. Kyle Harrison is set to make his sixth start of the season for San Francisco on Friday's series opener at 7:10. Miami has yet to announce a starter, however it will likely be Cal Quantrill—following his abbreviated 46 pitch-outing in Anaheim—taking the ball for Clayton McCullough's club. View full article

Chicago's late-inning surge led to a Cubs series win at loanDepot park on Wednesday afternoon behind a solid Max Meyer. MIAMI- With two outs in the eighth inning of Wednesday's rubber match between the visiting Chicago Cubs and Marlins, Kyle Tucker stepped up with Matt Shaw standing 180 feet away from home in a 1-1 offensive stalemate. Up to that point in the ballgame, the three-time All-Star and first-year Cub was responsible for essentially all of Chicago's offense. Tucker deposited his second first-inning homer in as many days and added another hit two innings later with a 107.2 mph single. Instead of putting Tucker on with first base open, Marlins manager Clayton McCullough put trust in one of his best relief arms, Anthony Bender. When asked postgame if he was considering pitching around Tucker, McCullough answered, "Anthony has the weapons to get him out. I was confident with Anthony going into that at-bat with his stuff." McCullough had good reason to believe in his guy, as Bender had been as good as any Marlins arm in crucial situations this season. In 32 at-bats in "high leverage" innings entering Wednesday’s game, opposing hitters slashed a measly .188/.278/.281. The five-year veteran even got Tucker in a favorable 1-2 count, but on pitch four, disaster struck for the Fish. Tucker poked a backdoor sweeper to left field, moving Shaw to third, where it looked like he'd be staying... if not for Kyle Stowers misplaying the ball in left. R0I2azlfWGw0TUFRPT1fQUFBQVVsY0ZWRllBRGxCUVhnQUhBMVZYQUFBQVVBTUFCQWNDQlZGVFV3WUdCbE5Y (1).mp4 Shaw ended up scoring with ease as the ball trickled away from McCullough’s most valuable player, putting Chicago up 2-1, where the score would stay until the final out as Miami's bats continued to flounder. "Got maybe a little too quick with it, with the transfer...the timing of some things weren't advantageous," added McCullough. "But Kyle has made so many good plays out there and over the course of the season for us". Offensively, following Stowers' single in the third -- which extended his hit streak to nine games -- Miami did not record a hit in the final six frames after tallying six just over one time through the order, as Cubs starter Cade Horton and a trio of relievers dominated. The Marlins' only run came in the first, with Connor Norby legging out a sharply-hit infield single to plate Agustin Ramirez. Lost in the fray was the man opposite of Gibson, Max Meyer. For the first time since his incredible 14-strikeout performance against Cincinnati exactly a month ago, Meyer delivered a quality start. The 26-year-old’s outing started on the shakier side, with Tucker's aforementioned long ball. Showcasing his level-headedness, though, Meyer sat down three of the next four Cubs he faced, putting him back on track to deliver a much-needed impact start. "I was just trying to get some outs. I didn't want anything to get out of control, and I had to just continue to execute pitches and stay on the game plan, and just because he hit one out, I wasn't going to waver from trying to finish my pitches." After cruising for the better part of five innings, Meyer went out for his sixth inning of work. Seiya Suzuki led off the inning with a tough-luck dribbler down the third base line, a theme that Meyer had dealt in the later innings of his starts. Today, though, the baseball Gods were on his side. One batter later, as "PCA" chants rang throughout loanDepot park from a vocal Cubs crowd, MVP candidate Pete Crow-Armstrong roped a 93.5 mph Meyer changeup directly at Eric Wagaman at first base, leading to the unassisted double play. R0I2azlfWGw0TUFRPT1fQXdJQVZWQUNVVlFBRGdZQlZBQUhCQTlRQUZrRUFRVUFBMUFOQWdJQ1ZRTURCbGNI.mp4 Meyer concluded his outing one batter later via a Michael Busch groundout. Postgame, Meyer joked with the media that, "It's a breath of fresh air since usually it happens with a chopper, as you've seen it happen with our starters. It felt like once I had that dribbler in my mind, I stopped thinking about that and told myself I would get this guy out and, alas, it was a double play right to him. It was really refreshing, it kind of made me say, 'baseball is actually fun'". Meyer's effectiveness on Wednesday lays in his arsenal, as the third-year starter utilized all five of his pitches at least 12 times. "He was able to stick some fastballs in there [at] various times. And maybe they're looking for the slider, which we all know is a really great pitch for him, and also the use of his changeup today. So Max, outside of the Tucker home run in the first inning, did a great job. Six really strong innings and he looked in control. He was pounding the strike zone, making a lot of high-quality pitches, and I loved how he was able to utilize his entire mix today". Meyer's season ERA following his latest performance is down to 4.15 through ten outings. The once third overall pick has easily been Miami's most impressive starter nearly two months in to the season. Following Wednesday's loss, the Marlins will embark on a cross-country trek to Anaheim to kick off their second west coast road trip of 2025. While Los Angeles has yet to announce a starter for Friday’s series-opener, Miami is set to deploy ace Sandy Alcantara, coming off another frustrating outing. Alcantara was showing signs of his Cy Young self before a four-run fifth inning ended his afternoon on Saturday. First pitch from Angel Stadium is slated for 9:38 pm ET. View full article

Alcantara posted another unattractive final line on Saturday despite excelling for much of the afternoon. MIAMI—Sandy Alcantara was dealing. After shaking off a leadoff double and a walk from the first two Rays he faced, Alcantara retired twelve in a row heading into his fifth inning of work in game two of the Citrus Series. The former Cy Young winner was sitting high 90's—including one pitch at 100 for the first time this season—rolling ground balls at a "Vintage Sandy" clip and spotting his pitches as well as he's done all season. It appeared that after eight starts of knocking off the rust and uncharacteristic results, this was the light at the end of the tunnel. For the first time in nearly two years, the Marlins ace was going to deliver a gem. In the blink of an eye, that light went out. Three singles, a walk, a hit by pitch and an egregious three stolen bases later, Alcantara's potential return to dominance vanished. The Rays pushed across four runs in the frame when it was all said and done. Those were the only four runs in the game's entirety as Miami's offense struggled to muster anything all day long. With the 4-0 loss, the Fish drop back to 10 games under .500. In Alcantara's defense, all four singles could have been outs as easily as they were hits. José Caballero's single to start the inning was hit a scorching 62.3 mph down the third base line, Chandler Simpson's rip was just past a diving Ronny Simon, Yandy Díaz's was through a drawn-in infield and Jonathan Aranda's was an awkward broken-bat dribbler. All of that in the equation arguably makes it tougher for Alcantara to swallow. "Just no luck for me out there today," Alcantara said to reporters postgame. "Fifth inning, you just hit the ball right there on the edge, maybe the hole, I don't know, but it is what it is. You just gotta take it". "He looked sharp using the fastball to (the) top of the zone as well. And using the secondaries, he was in a really good rhythm there through the early part of the game." said Marlins manager Clayton McCullough. "And then, they just kind of strung a few together, their ground balls that got through some holes to kind of keep the line moving a little bit...They're gonna start getting hit at people, which would make the overall outing look different. But I think as far as how he threw the ball, and how the quality of the stuff how he's utilizing it, it's going to bode well as we keep moving forward. The unlucky inning wouldn't have held as much weight if Rays starter Drew Rasmussen didn't shut Miami's offense down for the better part of six innings. The Marlins were only able to put together four hits against him—two from the second inning onward—with no real opportunity for a rally. Rasmussen finished his day with five strikeouts on an efficient 81 pitches. A trio of Rays relievers allowed just two hits combined in the final three innings. As has been the case at various points of Alcantara's career, the Marlins have been providing him with inadequate support. The club has lost six consecutive Alcantara starts, averaging only two runs in those games. Kyle Stowers and Liam Hicks—who batted second for the first time in his young MLB career—were the only Marlins who recorded multiple hits, both recording a single and a double. "He's feeling confident, trusting in his bat-to-ball, his eye, to be able to go up there and then take some shots and some counts to try to impact," noted McCullough on his rookie catcher. Despite facing off annually, the Marlins have not swept the Rays in a series of any length since 2016 (a two-gamer played at Tropicana Field). That drought continues. Looking ahead to Sunday afternoon's 1:40 series finale, McCullough turns to Cal Quantrill, backpacking off another up-and-down start on the north side of Chicago. Eight starts into his 2025 campaign, Quantrill owns an ERA of 7.00 with opponents OPS’ing just north of .900. Standing in the way of Miami’s first series win in almost a month is Shane Baz, who made just one start against his in-state rival back in 2021. The former first-round pick has stumbled as of late, allowing three or more earned runs in each of his past three starts. Baz relies heavily on his four-seam and knuckle curve, with the latter seeing significantly more usage—20.5% in 2024 compared to 33.2% in 2025—than it did a season ago. View full article

Baseball's least-clutch hitter finally delivered. Entering the eighth inning of the middle game between the equally struggling White Sox and Marlins, Miami's offense displayed essentially zero situational hitting ability all series long. A dreadful 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position carried on an ugly theme from the night before—the Marlins were 1-for-15 with RISP in game one—and it appeared another irksome loss was on the horizon. Kyle Stowers finally got his team on the board with a game-tying solo shot the inning prior, but if Miami was going to take the lead, the middle of their order was going to need to come through. The opportunity presented itself to none other than the least clutch hitter in all of baseball. Eric Wagaman entered Saturday with a -1.95 win probability added, the lowest amongst hitters in MLB. He had frequently faltered in late-game scenarios exactly like this, with runners on first and second, two outs and his team desperately needing a hit. This time, Wagaman succeeded. Miami's left fielder roped an outside changeup past a fully extended Michael A. Taylor in center field all the way to the wall, plating Dane Myers and Nick Fortes before sliding into third for his first career triple. Six quick outs from Anthony Bender and Jesús Tinoco put a bow on a hard-fought, come-from-behind 3-1 victory for Clayton McCullough's ball club. Wagaman's triple was only the ninth of his eight-year professional career. With the knock, the 27-year-old now holds ten RBI's on the season. Miami was kept in the contest that late thanks to another solid effort from starter Edward Cabrera. For a second consecutive start, Cabrera worked five strong innings. He only allowed one earned run this time around, a long ball off the bat of Andrew Vaughn—his second in as many days. Cabrera also continued a theme of trimming down his walk totals, only allowing one free pass, mirroring his last appearance. What Cabrera did do differently from his previous start was eliminate his four-seam fastball. Last Sunday against the Athletics, Cabrera threw his heater 12 times. On Saturday, it was not thrown once. No fastball meant heavy reliance on his changeup and sinker, with the two pitches amounting to 71% of the pitches the righty threw. Cabrera's season ERA now sits at 5.52, a number significantly lower than the 7.23 he owned just three starts ago. Miami's #5 starter will have another major opportunity to continue his recent success, as he is lined up for another below-average offense in his next start in the form of a struggling Rays unit, which ranks 23rd league-wide in team OPS (.670). Of Note - Javier Sanoja put on one of the best performances of his young career with a team-leading two-hit night and an exceptional run-saving play at second base in the bottom half of the seventh. - Before scoring on Wagaman's triple, Dane Myers stole second and got up awkwardly. Initially it looked like Myers simply got the wind knocked out of him, but Matt Mervis took his spot in the order in the ninth. It is something to monitor for Miami's center fielder who is enjoying a special start to his 2025 campaign. Up Next Sunday's Mothers Day rubber match is set to feature Sandy Alcantara making his eighth start post-Tommy John surgery. In Alcantara's last outing against the Dodgers, he flashed his vintage stuff, mixed in with occasional bad location which Los Angeles made him pay for. Sean Burke takes the ball for Will Venable's club with a 4.35 ERA through seven starts and eight appearances. First pitch from the Southside is slated for 2:10. View full article

The Marlins' most reliable starter eventually ran out of gas, while Miami's offense mustered only two runs despite frequent scoring opportunities. In back-to-back games leading up to Friday night's first of three against the lowly White Sox, Marlins manager Clayton McCullough was scrutinized for taking out his starting pitcher too early. On Tuesday, McCullough pulled Cal Quantrill in the middle of his best start of the season. A day later, Valente Bellozo was taken out amidst a one-hitter. The concern? Both Quantrill and Bellozo had historically seen the offensive numbers against them spike when facing a lineup for the third time. With Dodgers' superstar Shohei Ohtani coming to the plate, his former coach would rather a lefty arm out of his bullpen. Both times, the three-time MVP made him pay with extra-base hits. Major rallies for Los Angeles ensued, setting McCullough up for criticism from media and fans alike. Fast forward to Friday, where Max Meyer became the first Marlins starter to complete six innings since Sandy Alcantara on April 23, doing so on just 72 pitches. This time, McCullough rolled with Meyer into the seventh inning with the game tied and a weak Chicago lineup coming up for, you guessed it, a third time. What followed was the exact situation the first-year manager dreaded. The Southsiders rattled off three runs charged on three hits, two walks and a sacrifice fly. Meyer was chased from the contest before he could even record a second out. With the big inning, Chicago grabbed a 5-2 lead before adding another in the eighth. Miami's offense continued to sputter after an impressive first two innings, leading to their ninth defeat in their past eleven games. As a result of the loss, the Marlins dropped to a season-worst nine games under .500. Looking away from his tumultuous final inning, Meyer delivered a solid bounce-back start, allowing just two runs all night—both in an up-and-down second frame—displaying better swing-and-miss stuff than his prior start. The 26-year-old was also extremely efficient, averaging 12 pitches an inning between the first and sixth. Meyer relied on his signature slider more than any other pitch, throwing it 33% of the time, as expected. Surprisingly, though, Meyer threw his new sweeper and changeup second-most and third-most, respectively. He mixed in only 14 fastballs. Whether that usage decision was due to it missing down the plate in the aforementioned second inning is unknown. With his eighth start of 2025 in the books, Meyer's ERA now sits at 4.37, still good enough for the lowest in Miami's rotation among pitchers who have made five starts or more. As previously noted, Miami's bats came out of the gates hot. Xavier Edwards walked and stole a base before Jesús Sánchez drove him in on a single to open things up. An inning later, Connor Norby roped a double to left-center. What followed was radio silence for the next four innings until Liam Hicks pulled his second homer in as many starts to knot the game at two. The Fish got runners on in both the eighth and ninth, but couldn't chain anything together. Overall in this contest, they went 1-for-15 with runners in scoring position. Of Note - Home plate umpire Austin Jones had a rough night, missing plenty of calls on both sides. Agustín Ramírez got visibly worked up in the seventh inning, leading to McCullough having to diffuse the situation between the two. Additionally, Max Meyer was seen saying choice words to Jones as he walked off the mound following his departure. - While three of them didn't fall, Ramírez belted four balls over 100 mph in play, including a new personal-best 115 mph double in his third at-bat. - Christina De Nicola of MLB.com reported pregame that Eury Pérez will make his fourth rehab start in Jupiter on Sunday afternoon. - It has, simply put, been a tough time for Marlins starters thus far. Up Next Edward Cabrera, off the back of an encouraging 5 ⅔ innings last Sunday against the Athletics, takes the ball in Saturday's middle game at 7:10. Opposite of Cabrera is Shane Smith, far and away Chicago's best arm in the young season. Through seven starts, Smith has maintained a 2.41 ERA with opponents hitting a measly .207. Most impressive of all, Smith has allowed just a single home run in 37 ⅓ innings pitched. View full article

Miami Marlins outfielder Jesús Sánchez speaks with the media at loanDepot park after delivering the game-winning hit in Tuesday's 10-inning victory. The Marlins are tied for the MLB lead with five walk-off wins this season. View full video

Another rough day at the office for Marlins pitching put a damper on Kyle Stowers' incredible afternoon. Kyle Stowers put together the best performance of his MLB career, Liam Hicks had 3 RBI of his own with a double in the ninth to cap off a four-run final inning, and the Marlins racked up nine hits as a team in Tony Gonsolin's return from Tommy John surgery. Sounds like the recipe for a Marlins win, right? Alas, for the sixth time in six games on the West Coast, a Marlins starter allowed four or more runs before being relieved. This time, Cal Quantrill was the culprit, letting up four runs before being pulled in the middle of the fourth inning. Miami chipped away all day, but their bullpen and defense couldn't keep them in it. If it wasn't for the aforementioned big ninth inning, it would've been much uglier, but the result was the same, with the Dodgers cruising to a 12-7 win and series sweep. Miami's premier free agent signing continues to struggle, posting a .345 batting average against with his new club. The Dodgers feasted on Quantrill's fastball all day, with the pitch being responsible for four of his six hits. With yet another subpar performance from a starting pitcher, the bad news for Miami gets worse. Clayton McCullough's staff now sits dead last when looking at ERA as a collective and second to last in earned runs. In all fairness to Quantrill, the bullpen wasn't much better behind him. Anthony Bender and even Lake Bachar allowed a single run, while Jesús Tinoco and Luarbert Arias let up three apiece. Both Tinoco and Arias were victims of brutal misplays in center field by Jesús Sánchez, continuing innings and allowing extra bases. Stowers Puts on a Show Four at-bats, four hits, two home runs and four RBI. If you want to talk about finishing what you started, look no further than Kyle Stowers' performance on Wednesday. Stowers OPS'd a measly .540 in spring training and struck out 18 times. Impressively, he wiped the slate clean as soon as the regular season began. An Opening Day walk-off hit springboarded the 27-year-old into what ended up being a magnificent March and April, emphatically ending in this series finale. Stowers enjoyed his first multi-homer and four-hit game back home in California, with the former traveling to dead center and the latter heading to right-center. The lefty has made tremendous strides with pitch recognition and discipline. As the calendar flips to May, Stowers boasts a .323 average, .906 OPS and a .396 OBP, good enough for eighth in the National League. Due to injuries and platoon concerns, the Marlins' outfield alignment has constantly changed through the first 30 games of the season. Stowers has been the lone constant. He has deservedly earned an everyday role for the foreseeable future. Up Next Miami, thankfully, heads back to the east coast to take on the Athletics starting on Friday. Neither team has announced a starter for the 7:10 matchup. View full article

For the second time in four games, Javier Sanoja pitched for the Marlins. That should tell you all you need to know. Sandy Alcantara has been among MLB's best starting pitchers since he debuted in 2017. A career WAR of 19.4, an ERA of 3.46 and a Cy Young award in 2022 highlight a long list of accolades and dominance for Miami's ace and face of the franchise. No matter the time or place, the Marlins know he gives them the best chance to win...omitting Dodger Stadium. Before taking the ball in Tuesday night's middle game between his Marlins and the defending World Series champion Dodgers, Sandy owned an eye-popping 12.94 ERA in four starts at baseball's third-oldest stadium. That was by far his worst mark at one venue and over five runs higher than his second-worst, a 7.56 at Coors Field. It's fair to say the only highlight of Sandy's illustrious career in Los Angeles was a scoreless inning in the 2022 All-Star Game, a memorable moment from his aforementioned Cy Young season. Dane Myers' fifth RBI in two games even gave Alcantara a cushion heading into the bottom of the first inning. One pitch into the frame, though, it vanished. An inside sinker to Shohei Ohtani ended up in the seats and set the tone for another rough night in Hollywood. Alcantara's blowup performance (2.2 IP, 7 ER, 5 BB) put Miami in a deep hole against the most talented team in the sport. It didn't help that Matt Sauer and the Dodger bullpen put the clamps on the Marlins offense until an Ronny Simon RBI single in the top of the eighth. For the second time on their road trip out west, the Fish got completely dismantled, 15-2, falling to 12-17 on the young season in the process. Succeeding what was a consensus step forward a short six days ago against Cincinnati, the wheels came off the bus early for Alcantara following Ohtani's solo shot. Doubles from Freddie Freeman and Teoscar Hernández and a sacrifice fly off the bat of Tommy Edman capped off the first. The most alarming development was the four walks let up in the second and third, amounting to five by the time he was removed. It is only the tenth time in Alcantara's career that he allowed five or more free passes. Command inside the zone remained a concern as well, with an excess of pitches leaking over the plate. Below is a graphic of all seven pitches the Dodgers recorded hits on: As for pitch selection, Alcantara avoided throwing both his fastball and sinker, instead relying heavily on his changeup, as seen in his last start as well. The changeup was only responsible for two of the hits and was accountable for four of Sandy's nine swings-and-misses. Zooming out, Tuesday's start caps off Sandy's first full month following Tommy John surgery, a stretch that just so happens to be the worst of his career. While it is entirely too early to jump to any conclusions, it is clear that "vintage" Sandy is not as close to coming back as most thought despite a fantastic spring. Of Note - Myers was good for two more base hits in addition to his run-scoring single in the first. While still not receiving consistent playing time, even after the unfortunate injury to Griffin Conine, Myers remains a bright spot in Miami's order. In 21 games, the veteran outfielder is slashing .351/.373/.491. He would rank second the NL batting title race if he had enough plate appearances to qualify. - For the second night in a row, Otto Lopez enjoyed a multi-hit day. Following a forgettable run from April 4-27 which featured a .159/.227/.232 slash line, Lopez appears to be heating back up. - George Soriano capped off a rough month with three more earned runs, spiraling his ERA up to 10.32 in April. Opponents are hitting .308 off of Soriano thus far. - Poor Javier Sanoja, man. Up Next Wednesday afternoon's matinee sees the return of Dodgers starter Tony Gonsolin to an MLB mound for the first time since August 18, 2023, when a then playoff hopeful Marlins team threw up ten runs, including five homers in just over three innings. Ten days later, it was announced that Gonsolin would need Tommy John surgery, sidelining him for a year and a half. In four rehab starts this season in Triple-A Oklahoma City, the righty maintained a 3.21 ERA and 16/6 K/BB ratio. Cal Quantrill takes the bump for Clayton McCullough's squad with hopes of avoiding their second sweep of 2025. Quantrill, like Alcantara, took a couple steps forward in his previous start against Seattle, nearly completing six innings for the first time this season. View full article

More so than any other game during the first month of the 2025 season, Miami was thoroughly outplayed from start to finish. Marlins starter Connor Gillispie had been doing a so-so job as a stop-gap in Miami's rotation as Ryan Weathers recovers from injury. Entering Saturday's middle game between Gillispie's Marlins and the home team Mariners, Gillispie owned a 6.75 ERA and 4.57 FIP across five starts. Following Saturday, those numbers have certainly inflated. Back-to-back homers from the first two batters Gillispie faced, Julio Rodriguez and Jorge Polanco, set the tone for Seattle, as their offense rattled off an additional four runs to bury Miami early. The Mariners kept tacking on by scoring in five of the next seven innings, culminating in an emphatic 14-0 thumping. It was the most lopsided loss that the Marlins have suffered this season. Gillispie finished his outing allowing six hits and seven earned runs in just two innings—the shortest start of his young career. Mariners hitters teed off on the 27-year-old's entire arsenal, excluding his sweeper, which was responsible for four of the six outs recorded. Gillispie's season ERA now sits at 8.65. With Adam Mazur dominating a couple of hours north in Jacksonville and already on Miami's 40-man roster, it begs the question of whether they should swap places in the near future. Conversely, former Marlins farmhand Luis Castillo continued to flex on his ex-employer, one-hitting Miami's offense for six innings. Including his start Saturday, Castillo owns a 1.96 ERA with 56 strikeouts in 55 innings pitched. Dane Myers was the only Marlin to record a hit off of Castillo with a single in the third. Myers, Graham Pauley and Kyle Stowers (x2) recorded Miami's only hits of the night, just 24 hours after an all-around ten-hit effort. Of Note - If there was any more evidence needed to prove that it simply wasn't Miami's day, take a look at this incredible play from Mariners shortstop J.P. Crawford to get Eric Wagaman at first: - George Soriano, Tyler Phillips and Javier Sanoja—in his second outing of the season—all allowed runs to cross in their relief appearances, while Anthony Veneziano and Lake Bachar combined for a clean inning and two-thirds. - For the first time, Agustín Ramírez looked human at the big league level. Ramírez went 0-for-4 and finally struck out, dropping his OPS from 2.150 to 1.563. Up Next Max Meyer, coming off one of the best strikeout performances in Marlins franchise history, takes the ball for Clayton McCullough on Sunday, going for Miami's second straight series win. Opposing Meyer is Logan Evans, Seattle's #8 prospect, according to Baseball America. Evans pitched to the tune of a 3.86 ERA through five starts at Triple-A Tacoma with his sinker/sweeper combination. First pitch is scheduled for 4:10 ET. View full article

The Marlins will have to wait a little while longer to break out the brooms. MIAMI—As Matt Mervis rounded the bases in the bottom of the first on Wednesday afternoon following his two-run, go-ahead blast, it was looking like the Marlins would carry enough momentum from an exhilarating first two games against Cincinnati to notch their first sweep of the 2025 season. Reds starter Brady Singer had other ideas, though. While his offense chipped away, the former Florida Gator and Leesburg native bested Sandy Alcantara and silenced the Marlins’ hot bats for the rest of the day. Singer allowed just two hits, including zero from innings two to four, until he was relieved following the sixth. Contrary to Monday and Tuesday, Terry Francona’s bullpen followed suit, allowing just two singles in the final three innings as his Reds salvaged game three by a score of 5-2, dropping the Marlins to 11-13 in the process. “Brady settled in well, and really located his sinker and secondaries today,” said Marlins manager Clayton McCullough. “(We) weren't really ever able to mount much in the middle innings or stress him at that point. So hats off to him, he threw a good ball game today”. Mervis, Eric Wagaman and Ronny Simon were the only Marlins with extra-base hits the entire day, with Mervis' and Wagaman's coming in the first frame. Mervis is tied for third in the National League with seven homers this season. Sandy gets through six Alcantara didn’t necessarily need a bounce-back start, but he certainly wanted one, and the precedent was set. In day games at loanDepot park throughout his career, he possessed a 3.22 ERA with four complete games entering Wednesday. “I was getting tired of being here, talking (about) a lot of negative things…I just put it in my mind, my last start, that I gotta be on ‘Sandy Mode' and I think I did a little bit of Sandy Mode today,” he told reporters postgame. The results were as mixed as they could be. Miami’s ace looked like his former self in innings two, four, and six—rolling ground balls and demonstrating great pace and efficiency—but allowed runs and flashed inconsistencies in innings one, three, and five. Similar to his blowup start last Friday, command was a minor issue. While he only walked two, he struggled to put hitters away when ahead, throwing 34 pitches when he had two strikes, driving up his pitch count early. Looking positively, Sandy’s velocity on both his sinker and fastball were up a tick when compared to said previous start. The sinker's average velo improved from 96.1 mph to 97.3 mph while the fastball jumped from 97.2 to 97.8. Another encouraging sign was Sandy’s patented changeup, which got thrown 34% of the time while racking up nine of his sixteen whiffs. Reds batters chased it outside the zone at a 40% rate. All in all, it’s a step forward for Alcantara, who is still finding a groove after Tommy John surgery. “He had a lot of count leverage today, and got through six (and) gave us a quality start…It was a good start. Very, very encouraging” said McCullough. Of Note - In the seventh, Jeimer Candelario grounded a ball to Otto Lopez at second with runners on first and third and the Reds up by a run. Instead of attempting to turn a double play on the slower Candelario, Lopez threw home to try and nab Elly De La Cruz at home due to the infield playing in. The throw was on time, but De La Cruz snuck a hand by Liam Hicks. Postgame, McCullough said "it was the right play. He didn't really hesitate. He got it, made an accurate throw to the plate, and Elly just outran it and barely beat it." - After making history in his first two games as a big leaguer, Agustín Ramírez got the day off. - With a paid attendance of 6,575, Wednesday's game was the least-attended Marlins game of 2025 thus far. Up Next The Fish depart for a cross-country trip to the Pacific Northwest for a three-game set against the Mariners. Friday's series opener features Cal Quantrill on the bump for the Marlins, looking to rebound after allowing seven earned runs a week ago in Philadelphia. Seattle has yet to announce a starter for the contest. First pitch is slated for 9:40 ET. View full article