Ureña gets nod as Opening Day starter

JUPITER — For the second consecutive season, José Ureña will get the start on Opening Day.

Marlins manager Don Mattingly didn’t wait long to make his decision, naming the 27-year-old righthander as their No. 1 starter just two days into spring training.

“I think he’s the leader of our staff,” Mattingly said. “If we have a guy that we want to bring along and ‘This is how you go about your business’ — this is José . He’s continuing to work and trying to get better all the time. Just the toughness, he approaches each outing with. He’s our guy.”

Ureña is entering his fifth season with the Marlins. Last year, he posted a 3.98 ERA in a team-high 31 starts. After a rocky threequarters of the season, Ureña was one of the National League’s top pitchers in the final month. In five September starts, the 27-year-old went 5-0 with a 1.20 ERA.

“It means a lot when the team has that faith [in you],” Ureña said.

With Ureña getting the call on Opening Day at home against the Rockies, that means his showdown against the Braves will be postponed. Last season, the right-hander was suspended six games after hitting Atlanta outfielder Ronald Acuna with the first pitch of the game on Aug. 15, setting off a benches-clearing skirmish.

The Marlins are scheduled to play a three-game set in Atlanta on April 5-7. However, with Ureña taking the No. 1 spot in the rotation starting with the March 28 opener, the Marlins 3-5 pitchers will throw that weekend.

Marlins honor Stoneman Douglas victims: On the one-year anniversary of the Parkland shooting, the Marlins held a moment of silence for the shooting victims at 10:17 a.m. on Thursday. The players and coaches bowed their heads for 17 seconds in recognition of the 17 killed at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.

Less than an hour from Parkland, the Marlins hosted the Stoneman Douglas baseball and softball teams last year at their Jupiter spring training facility. Living in South Florida, the tragedy strikes a chord for the Marlins.

“It’s just down the road, not too far,” Miami pitcher Trevor Richards said. “It hits here a little harder than the rest of the country, so it makes it a little special to us.”