Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Marlins notebook.
SAN DIEGO — David Phelps threw only 11 pitches Sunday afternoon, contributing his first perfect appearance out of nine this season, but he was most impressed with one in particular: a 1-0 fastball in to San Diego power threat Austin Hedges.
“If I’m trying to get guys out away, I have to throw them something in,” Phelps said.
On Friday, Hedges homered off Phelps in a four-run inning for the Padres. This time, Phelps got Hedges to swing through a fastball to end the seventh inning of the Miami Marlins’ 7-3 win, his best game of the young season.
“The biggest thing is execution. I went out there and made pitches today,” Phelps said. “When I’ve been getting hit, it’s pitches over the middle of the plate. Stuff’s there. It’s not really changing. It’s a matter of making pitches. It’s what it always is. That’s what baseball is about.”
Phelps threw a second inning Friday, also of the 1-2-3 variety, so after Sunday he’s up to two in a row without any baserunners. But with that pair, or with the nine earned runs in nine innings prior to that, it’s difficult to draw any firm conclusions given the tiny amount of data.
Good results or bad, Phelps said he hasn’t been doing anything different.
“It’s part of the reason you can’t look at it in small sample sizes,” Phelps said. “Not that 10 innings up to that point is that small, but at the same time, there are a lot of waves in a baseball season. You just kind of have to ride them. This is my sixth year. I have a pretty good idea of what I am, and it’s certainly not what I was doing out there.”
Manager Don Mattingly suggested Friday that the Marlins were getting close to moving away from Phelps in high-leverage situations. On Sunday, with Kyle Barraclough seemingly unavailable after pitching two innings the night before, Mattingly turned to Phelps for the seventh — a vote of confidence of sorts that Phelps appreciated.
“Frustrating two and a half weeks leading up to today,” Phelps said. “It’s good seeing Donnie still have faith in me right there. I need it.”
Rojas iffy
The Marlins’ short bench was a little more so Sunday afternoon. Utility infielder Miguel Rojas, who exited the team’s win Saturday night with what he described as tightness behind both of his knees, did not play.
Mattingly said he would have used Rojas in an emergency situation. Adeiny
Hechavarria, recently returned from the disabled list, is the only other shortstop on the roster.
The Marlins’ hope is Rojas will be OK after today’s team off day.
“Thinking by Tuesday night [against the Phillies in Philadelphia] he should be ready to go, be available again,” Mattingly said. “If that’s not the case, obviously we’ll talk about possibly doing something.”
Rojas said he initially felt the tightness in his first atbat Saturday, when he was running out a ground ball to third base. When he later made a diving stop on a grounder to short he thought he was OK, but the sensation lingered and he came out of the game.
Odds & ends
Sunday’s 1:40 p.m. local time first pitch was the Marlins’ fourth different start time in as many games.
The Marlins have trailed in six of their 10 wins this season. Right-hander Nick
Wittgren is eligible to rejoin the Marlins for their series in Philadelphia after being optioned to Triple-A New Orleans a week and a half ago. He has been on an every-other-day schedule with the Baby Cakes, tossing three scoreless innings.