Marlins take a step back
Phillie rookie Leiter shuts down Miami’s bats for 7 innings
PHILADELPHIA — Mark Leiter has had an OK rookie season for a bad Philadelphia Phillies team, relieving when they want him to relieve and starting when they need him to start, and on Wednesday against the Miami Marlins circumstances required the latter.
Leiter, who was born in Fort Lauderdale and is the nephew of former Marlins pitcher Al Leiter, dominated. In a 8-0 Marlins loss, the 26-year-old righty had a nohitter through five innings and finished with seven scoreless and one hit allowed, striking out five.
The loss drops the Marlins back under .500, at 62-63, one day after they evened their record for the first time in nearly four months with a doubleheader sweep of the Phillies. Miami hasn’t been above .500 since April 26.
All of Leiter’s strikeouts came in the first two innings, and three of them came on cutters — the least frequent of Leiter’s five pitches in his young big league career — down in the zone.
Leiter, who attended high school and college in New Jersey, allowed only three baserunners.
Marcell Ozuna walked to lead off the second, but was stranded after stealing second. Miguel Rojas doubled to lead off the sixth, but was stranded at third. Christian Yelich walked to lead off the seventh, but J.T. Realmuto’s double play meant Leiter finished his night facing the minimum number of batters in his final inning.
His uncle Al’s Florida career, which included All-Star recognition in 1996 and a World Series championship in 1997, isn’t Leiter’s only Marlins connection. Leiter’s father, also Mark Leiter, played in the majors, too. Al and Mark Sr. were at different points teammates of Don Mattingly on the Yankees.
None of that history mattered, of course, during the longest outing of Leiter’s major league career.
Left-hander Justin Nicolino’s night Wednesday did not go well. He gave up six runs in 2 1⁄3 innings, and it could have been worse had reliever Odrisamer Despaigne not induced a double play from the first batter he faced.
Nicolino was OK through the opening two innings, allowing one run on 37 pitches, but yielded five more on 37 more pitches in the third.
The big blow was a three-run home run from Rhys Hoskins, Philadelphia’s rookie left fielder who has seven home runs in his first 14 games. Hoskins fell behind 0-2, but worked the count full until, on the eighth pitch of the at-bat, Nicolino left a fastball over the heart of the plate. Hoskins planted it in the upper deck in left field, a projected 445 feet from home.
Despaigne wound up pitching 2 2⁄3 scoreless innings, throwing only 30 pitches. He is likely to get a spot start against the San Diego Padres at Marlins Park this weekend.