After 23-day road trip, Marlins headed home
On the 23rd day, the Miami Marlins’ extended road trip to begin the 2020 season came to an end.
Next up: A return to South Florida and preparation for the first baseball activities at Marlins Park since they finished their three-weeks of summer camp workouts ahead of the season.
Wednesday’s late game against the Toronto Blue Jays at Buffalo’s Sahlen Field put an end to a 12game road stretch (with a week of quarantining and postponed games mixed in) that had the Marlins in a good spot as far as their record is concerned to open this 60-game season despite some self-inflicted setbacks. When they take the field against the Atlanta Braves starting Friday for their first series at Marlins Park this season, it’ll be a matchup against the top two teams in the National League East.
“I think guys are excited to get back home,” Marlins manager Don Mattingly said. “There hasn’t been any change in that. We’ve been on the road for 23 days . ... Guys are pretty good about compartmentalizing what we have to do.”
They’ve had a lot to compartmentalize.
They played 12 consecutive games away from home to begin the season, a byproduct of the team’s coronavirus outbreak that manifested following their season-opening road
After 12 consecutive games on the road, the Marlins will play their first home game of the season on Friday.
series against the Philadelphia Phillies in late July. It impacted 18 players and forced the Marlins to bring up a slew of prospects and pick up veterans off waivers, through trades and via free agency just to field a full roster.
Instead of returning home after that series as originally planned, the Marlins had seven games postponed while they quarantined in a Philadelphia hotel for a week and then played another nine games on the road when they were cleared to play. The Marlins were the designated home team in two of those games against the Baltimore Orioles at Camden Yards.
“I hope we don’t have to learn too many more lessons on this trip. I’ve got enough lessons under my belt now,” Mattingly said.
“We talked about this season in general that going into it, it was going to be different. The team that could get past all of that stuff would have a better chance of surviving it. Knowing you’re going to get tested and the protocols and all that stuff, we talked about that. I had no vision of this type of trip, but we did know we were going to have to deal with a lot of stuff mentally. We’ve been tested early. Hopefully, we can smooth it out, get some guys back and not have to go through this again.”
On Wednesday, they channeled their energy into a game that served as the final stop before a return to Miami before slowly seeing their lead evaporate.
Brian Anderson opened action with a three-run home run in the first inning. The Marlins tacked on five more runs in a third inning that featured three singles, three walks, one run scoring on a fielding error and another when Blue Jays catcher Danny Jansen tried to pick off a Marlins runner at second with the bases loaded. Miami scored three more runs in the fifth. Every position player in the starting lineup had at least one hit, run or RBI on Wednesday.
They chased Blue Jays starting pitcher Nate Pearson, the No. 9 overall prospect in baseball according to MLBPipeline, after 21⁄3 innings to force the Blue Jays to go to their bullpen early.
But the Marlins gave up their share of runs as well. The Blue Jays hit seven home runs through the first eight innings to turn an 8-0 deficit to an 11-11 tie. Jordan Yamamoto, looking to shake off a rusty season debut, lasted just 31⁄3 innings after giving up the first two home runs.
“They all count,” Mattingly said. “You feel like you have to have every one of them. We want to keep that day-in and day-out mindset. There’s no real big series because they’re all big series.”
The next big series, finally, will be at their home ballpark.
“I feel like it is just because you’re not in hotels and you know your surroundings,” Mattingly said. “You know how to get food.
You’re just a lot more equipped to deal with what you need. When you’re in a hotel setting and you can’t go out of the hotel and anytime you leave your room you have to have a mask on, it’s just not a great setting, right? At home, at least you know you can step out on your porch and get fresh air. If you have a backyard, you can get out without a mask . ... I feel more comfortable there than I do on the road.”
Relief pitcher Mike Morin suffered a right elbow injury after throwing two pitches in the sixth inning.
The team announced he’ll undergo further evaluation when the Marlins return to Miami.