Straily gets boost to win debut
MIAMI — Inside the Marlins clubhouse, Dan Straily and Miguel Rojas almost could not be farther apart. Straily occupies the first stall after entering the room, immediately to the right. Rojas is rucked away in the far corner. A pillar, a set of television and a group of couches separate the two players.
But before he made his season debut in a 8-4 Marlins win over Philadelphia on Monday night, Straily bridged the gap with his voice.
“Happy Opening Day,” he shouted across the clubhouse to Rojas.
It came before Miami won a third straight game for the first time this season, a victory that marked the Marlins’ fifth of their last six games. It also came before Brian Anderson’s 3-for-4 night, with his career-high four RBI pacing the offense and his diving catch saving the evening in front of 5,415 fans at Marlins Park. The announced attendance was the lowest in stadium history.
Straily’s shout was a welcome refrain for the Marlins, who housed a cast of unproven and inexperienced starting pitchers in their rotation through April. As Miami trotted out its rotation through the first 27 games of the season, Straily waited. A right forearm strain sidelined him for the first month of the season, pushing his 2018 debut to Monday night.
His return was the latest for a string of Marlins veterans. J.T. Realmuto came back on the last road trip. Martin Prado returned over the weekend, as did Wei-Yin Chen. Monday was Straily’s turn.
“The club is more rounded out, what we had pictured going into the season,” Marlins manager Don Mattingly said before the game.
Straily earned a no decision in the Miami victory, lasting just four innings and allowing four runs on six hits. He battled his command, giving up four walks. He lacked swingand-miss stuff, striking out just one Phillie.
A Marlins win looked precarious in the seventh inning, when Kyle Barraclough loaded the bases with one out and Carlos Santana at the plate. Barraclough walked two Phillies and flung a wild pitch to set the stage for Santana. On the sixth pitch of the at-bat, Santana sent a sinking line drive into right field.
Off the bat, the ball looked like it would drop for a hit, scoring two runs and tying the game at 6. Instead, Anderson made a diving catch, keeping the runners where they were and preserving a two-run cushion.
Anderson added a pair of insurance runs in the bottom half of the inning with a tworun home run about halfway up the sculpture in left-center field. It was his second homer of the season and followed a two-run double in the third inning.