Marlins offense shows up big in spring opener
Jazz Chisholm, Lewis Brinson and JJ Bleday hit home runs, Dan Castano and Nick Neidert pitched, and the Miami Marlins won their spring training opener against Houston.
Jazz Chisholm needed just two pitches on Sunday for his plan to come to fruition as the Miami Marlins opened their 24-game spring training schedule.
After taking the first pitch from Houston Astros pitcher
Brandon Bielak, Chisholm uncorked on the second pitch and sent it into the Astros’ bullpen in left field for a leadoff, opposite field home run at The Ballpark of the Palm Beaches.
It started a string of four consecutive Marlins hits — capped by a two-run home run from Lewis Brinson — that
helped the Marlins defeat the Astros 6-1 in a seveninning game.
“It felt great to start off with a bang,” Chisholm said. “Glad to see that it showed from the first at-bat.”
Jon Berti (2 for 2) and Garrett Cooper (RBI double) had hits between the two first-inning home runs.
JJ Bleday also hit a solo home run.
Here are four takeaways from the Marlins’ first spring training game:
The kids get the first crack at live games.
Marlins manager Don Mattingly wanted to give the bulk of Miami’s veterans an extra day of practice before sending them out into spring training games.
“It’s just a matter of I had to spread them out,” Mattingly said, “because of the rules with MLB and only having so many guys in each lineup, things like that.”
And so the prospects and players fighting for roster spots took up the majority of Miami’s starting lineup on Sunday.
The batting order: shortstop Chisholm, third baseman Berti, first baseman Cooper, right fielder Brinson, second baseman Isan Diaz, catcher Chad Wallach, center fielder Monte Harrison, left fielder Magneuris Sierra and designated hitter JJ Bleday.
With the exception of Wallach, the starters came off the field midway through the fourth inning. The replacements: Lewin Diaz at first base, Luis Marte at second, Nasim Nunez at shortstop, Joe Dunand at third, Peyton Burdick in left field, Brian
Miller in center field and Jesus Sanchez in right field. Brian Navarreto replaced Wallach in the sixth.
The battle for the fifth spot in the starting rotation has begun.
Four pitchers are primarily competing for the Marlins final spot in the starting rotation.
Two of them — Daniel Castano and Nick Neidert — had the first crack at stating their case on Sunday.
Both pitched two innings against the Astros, with Castano starting the game and Neidert coming out of the bullpen to pitch the third and fourth innings.
Neidert threw a pair of scoreless innings, working around a pair of singles. Neidert threw 31 pitches, 20 of which went for strikes.
Castano only gave up one run but he needed 39 pitches (22 strikes) to get through his two innings and gave up a pair of hard hits to Kyle Tucker and Jason Castro with two outs.
Braxton Garrett and Trevor Rogers are the other two contending for the final rotation spot to join Sandy Alcantara, Pablo Lopez, Elieser Hernandez and Sixto Sanchez.
Finally, the Marlins had a chance to play in front of fans again.
It was a small crowd — just 1,569 people — but any crowd was an improvement over last season, when MLB had to play games in empty ballparks (save for the National League Championship Series and World Series in Arlington, Texas).
“It felt way better with fans out there, being able to interact and make eye contact with them,” Chisholm said. “They were as happy as we were to be out here.”
Mattingly said he didn’t think too much about being in front of fans until he got to the ballpark and saw people hanging along the rails and yelling (both for and against the Marlins).
‘‘It was nice just to have that interaction and it not be cardboard cutouts,” Mattingly said.
Two more seveninning games are up next on the docket before extending out to nine-inning games the rest of spring training.
Just like Sunday, the Marlins’ next two games against the New York Mets on Monday and St. Louis Cardinals on Tuesday — both 1:05 p.m. starts at Jupiter’s Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium — will be seven-inning games. The plan is for the final 21 games of spring training to be nine-inning contests.
Sandy Alcantara is scheduled to be Miami’s starting pitcher on Monday. Pablo Lopez is set to start on Tuesday.
The University of Miami women’s basketball team enters March on a threegame roll after rallying from a 10-point deficit to beat Clemson 68-62 on the road Sunday afternoon.
It was the regular-season finale for the Hurricanes, who head into this week’s ACC tournament in Greensboro, N.C., with an 11-10 overall record and 8-10 league record. UM will play its opening game Thursday.
“We won more ACC games this year, with a lot going against us, than we did last year,” coach Katie Meier said. “To win eight games in this conference against a Clemson team that started the season 8-1, beating Wake Forest, beating Carolina twice, so we have some top-50 net ranking wins. I think we’ve been a little dismissed, and they better start talking about Miami again.”
Meier took a moment to thank the UM administration, her staff, players, even the bus drivers for getting through all 18 regular-season games during the pandemic.
“We played a full regular season, never missed a game,” she said. “You’re in this profession for a higher purpose and I cannot believe what it took from my players, staff, doctors, medical advisers to keep Miami safe. That is a victory beyond all else. And to have a near-.500 ACC season is huge. We feel good about ourselves. We’re streaking.”
The UM upperclassmen carried the load, as they have much of the season. Destiny Harden was the game’s leading scorer with 21 points on 9-of-15 shooting. Endia Banks had 13 points, including a threepointer with 50 seconds to go that gave Miami a 6358 lead. She also made the final four three throws of the game.
Kelsey Marshall added 12 points. Her three-pointer late in the game capped an 18-8 UM run, and the bench erupted.
“I thought we were terribly flat and disjointed in the third quarter, and then to respond on the road with Destiny’s huge three, Endia’s huge three, Sydnee Roby battling inside ... that changed the game for us,” Meier said.
— MICHELLE KAUFMAN
MEN’S TOP 25
No. 9 Iowa 73, No. 4 Ohio State 57: Luka Garza had 24 points and 11 rebounds as Iowa bounced back from a midweek loss to take down host Ohio State.
Joe Weiskamp added 19, including 5-for-9 shooting from three-point range, for Iowa (18-7, 12-6 Big Ten).
E.J. Liddell had 15 points and Justice Sueing added 10 for the Buckeyes (18-7, 12-7). Recently projected as a No. 1 NCAA Tournament seed, they’ve lost three games in eight days.
Butler 73, No. 8 Villanova 61: Chuck Harris scored 20 points and Jair Bolden added 15 to lead the Bulldogs.
The Bulldogs (9-13, 8-11 Big East) have won two straight since snapping a three-game losing streak and have beaten the Wildcats in four of the last five meetings in Indianapolis.
Jeremiah Robinson-Earl finished with 16 points and 16 rebounds to lead Villanova (15-4, 10-3), which had won 13 of its previous 15 and was favored by 101⁄2 points. Collin Gillespie had 14 points for the Wildcats.
No. 12 Houston 98, South Florida 52:
Quentin Grimes scored 22 points, all in the first half, to lead host Houston.
Grimes scored 16 straight points at one point as the Cougars (20-3, 13-3 American Athletic Conference) put the game away with a huge first-half run. Xavier Castaneda scored 11 points for the Bulls (8-10, 4-8).
WOMEN’S TOP 25
No. 3 Texas A&M
65, No. 5 South Carolina 57: Aaliyah Wilson scored 17 points and N’dea Jones added 16 to give the host Aggies their first regularseason Southeastern Conference title.
It’s the 10th straight victory for the Aggies and their ninth win over a ranked opponent this season, which leads the nation. Texas A&M (22-1, 13-1 SEC) finished the season 13-0 at home.
The Aggies outscored the Gamecocks (19-4, 14-2) 19-8 in the third quarter to take a commanding lead beforeSouth Carolina got back in it late.
No. 17 Georgia 95, Florida 80: Jenna Staiti scored 30 points, Maya Caldwell added 27, both career highs, as Georgia pulled away from host Florida.
Combined with No. 19 Kentucky’s 73-69 loss to Ole Miss on Sunday, Georgia (18-5, 10-5 SEC) secured a top-four seed and a double-bye in next week’s Southeastern Conference tournament.
Floor Toonders, Jordyn Merritt and Kiara Smith all scored 16 for the Gators (10-12, 3-11) and Nina Rickards added 14. They have lost four straight since leading scorer Lavender Briggs (19.5) was lost for the season with a foot injury.