Urías fans 11 in combined one-hitter for Dodgers
rally.
“It’s gonna start with Lew,” Marlins manager Don Mattingly said pregame. “We’ll give him the first shot. He’s a guy that really has made big strides, and we feel like he deserves that opportunity to see what he can do.”
Time is running out for Brinson to prove he can provide value to his hometown team. The
Fort Lauderdale native and Coral Springs High alumnus has a career .187 batting average in the big-leagues and was 0 for 8 this season when he was optioned to the alternate training site on April 11 (a move made to add another pitcher to the roster, not necessarily because of his early production).
Brinson did show signs of progress in 2020 when he was used in a platoon situation in right field with Matt Joyce, hitting .260 against left-handed pitchers. Mattingly also said Brinson showed some signs of progress in spring training as he honed in his mechanics at the plate that Mattingly believes will translate into success against righthanded pitchers as well.
“He has more length in his swing,” Mattingly said, “and can cover more pitches.”
But Brinson was relegated to a bench role to start the season with Corey Dickerson, Marte and Adam Duvall getting the bulk of the starting outfield reps along with Garrett Cooper getting the occasional start in right.
There’s also competition brewing behind him with a wave of outfielders rising in the minor leagues.
Now, that doesn’t mean Brinson is starting every day. Left-handed hitter Magneuris Sierra and super-utility player
Jon Berti are also options to get time in center field. A platoon is possible.
Either way, the combination of Brinson, Sierra and Berti does not equal a Starling Marte. No one player who the Marlins could have brought up from within for that matter can independently replace Marte’s production.
Marte is a career .287 hitter with 116 home runs, 455 RBI, 606 runs scored and 252 stolen bases over nine-plus seasons. He was an All-Star in 2016 and won Gold Glove awards in both 2015 and 2016.
Marte was the only player who has started in each of the Marlins’ first 15 games of the season. He’s also the only player to start in center field and batted second in all but one game. Miguel Rojas took over the No. 2 spot in the lineup.
Marte leads the Marlins with 18 hits and 15 runs scored and safely reached base in 14 consecutive games. He’s also stellar defensively, having the fourth-highest defensive ranking among center fielders according to FanGraphs.
And as a reminder: Marte has started in center field in 42 of his 45 regular-season games with Miami. From the start of the 2019 season to the Marlins acquiring Marte from the Arizona Diamondbacks on Aug. 31, 2020, Miami had used 11 different players in center field during the course of 192 games. Outside of Brinson (58 starts), no one started more than 26 games at the spot during that span.
“With Marte, he’s a guy you can count on to come every single day to the ballpark and prepare for the game,” Rojas said. “That’s a guy who’s a veteran in all aspects. The guy can run, can hit, play defense.
“We’re going to keep our fingers crossed because we need Marte.”
Mattingly said Marte’s injury “sounds worse than it is,” but the club will have a better understanding of Marte’s timetable to return to the field at the end of the week.
For now, the Marlins will go with who they have available.
ALFARO HURT AGAIN
Marlins catcher Jorge Alfaro was removed in the fourth inning after reaching base on a fielding error by Orioles second baseman Rio Ruiz with left hamstring soreness.
He had a lengthy discussion with head athletic trainer Gene Basham and Mattingly before being removed. Chad Wallach took over catching duties.
Alfaro had been dealing with lingering tightness in his left hamstring for a couple weeks now, which resulted in him missing four games. He returned to the lineup on April 13 and had recorded five hits over his past four starts, including a 10th-inning walkoff double against the San Francisco Giants on Saturday and a second-inning single on Tuesday.
Should the Marlins have to put Alfaro on the IL — no specifics have been given about his status at this time — they have
Sandy Leon, Brian Navarreto and Santiago Chavez as their available catchers at the alternate training site.
NEIDERT STRUGGLES
Nick Neidert, in his third start of the season, gave up five runs on five hits and two walks over three innings of work against the Orioles. This included a pair of solo home runs by Trey Mancini and Freddy Galvis in the third.
Neidert, who now has a 6.75 ERA over 12 innings, threw 70 pitches on Tuesday, 30 of which came in the first inning.
Jordan McPherson: 305-376-2129, @J_McPherson1126
Julio Urías threw seven dominant innings of one-hit ball, striking out a career-high 11 and leading the Los Angeles Dodgers to a 1-0 win over the Seattle Mariners on Tuesday at Seattle.
The Intraleague matchup between earlyseason division leaders out West was an entertaining pitchers’ duel with Urías getting the better of Seattle’s Marco Gonzales.
Corey Seager drove in the only run with a twoout single in the third inning after AJ Pollock’s leadoff double. Those were the Dodgers’ only hits in the game.
Seattle’s Chris Taylor was thrown out at home as a potential insurance run in the ninth inning. Taylor went on contact from Justin Turner and was easily thrown out by third baseman Kyle Seager.
Urías (3-0) was outstanding, painting edges with a fastball in the mid-90s that kept Seattle’s hitters guessing. Seattle’s lone hit was Mitch Haniger’s slow infield single with two outs in the third inning.
Urías allowed two baserunners and neither reached second base. He had 10 strikeouts through five innings and seven of the nine batters in Seattle’s lineup struck out at least once against him.
Yankees 3, Braves 1: New York ended a five-game losing streak with little offense, getting a run-scoring wild pitch and bases-loaded walk from Atlanta reliever Nate Jones in the eighth inning for the decisive runs.
Gio Urshela hit a tying home run in the fifth inning off Charlie Morton and the Yankees won with five hits, which left their four-game total at 16. New York went 2 for 8 with runners in scoring position, but the lastplace Yankees improved to 6-10 and avoided what would have been their worst start since 1972.
Athletics 7, Twins 0: Matt Olson hit a grand slam, Mitch Moreland homered twice to back Sean Manaea's shutout and host Oakland slugged past depleted Minnesota in the first game of a doubleheader for Oakland's ninth consecutive victory. Moreland connected for a two-run homer in the second inning and a solo drive in the fourth off Matt Shoemaker (1-1).
The left-handed Manaea (2-1) allowed six hits, struck out seven and
East
Boston Tampa Bay Baltimore Toronto New York
Central
Kansas City Chicago Cleveland Minnesota Detroit
West
W
12 9 8 7 6
W
L
6 8 9 10 10
L
Pct
.667 .529 .471 .412 .375
Pct
GB
— 21⁄2 3 41⁄2
5
GB
Seattle 11 7 .611
Oakland 10 7 .588
Los Angeles 8 6 .571 1 Texas 8 9 .471 21⁄2 Houston 7 8 .467 21⁄2 For full standings and boxscores go to the eEdition at MiamiHerald.com.
—
TUESDAY
Baltimore 7, Miami 5
L.A. Dodgers 1, Seattle 0
Oakland 7, Minnesota 0, 1st game
N.Y. Yankees 3, Atlanta 1
Chi. White Sox 8, Cleveland 5
Boston 4, Toronto 2
Pittsburgh at Detroit, ppd.
Tampa Bay at Kansas City, late
Houston at Colorado, late
Texas at L.A. Angels, late
Minnesota at Oakland, late, 2nd game
WEDNESDAY
Baltimore (Zimmermann 1-1) at Miami (Rogers 1-1), 1:10
Pittsburgh (TBD) at Detroit (TBD),
2:10, 1st game
Houston (Urquidy 0-1) at Colorado (Gomber 0-2), 3:10
Minnesota (Happ 0-0) at Oakland (Montas 2-1), 3:37
Texas (Foltynewicz 0-3) at L.A. Angels (Quintana 0-1), 4:07
Chicago White Sox (TBD) at Cleveland (Civale 3-0), 6:10
Atlanta (Anderson 0-0) at N.Y. Yankees (Kluber 0-1), 6:35
Pittsburgh (Keller 1-2) at Detroit (Turnbull 0-0), 6:40, 2nd game
Toronto (TBD) at Boston (Richards 0-1), 7:10
Tampa Bay (Wacha 1-1) at Kansas City (Junis 1-0), 8:10
MONDAY
Boston 11, Chi. White Sox 4
Tampa Bay 4, Kansas City 1
Texas 6, L.A. Angels 4 walked one over seven innings, throwing 95 pitches for his second career complete game and shutout — he no-hit the Red Sox at home on April 21, 2018.
White Sox 8, Indians 5: Carlos Rodón followed up his no-hitter by hanging around for five shaky innings to beat host Cleveland for the second time in a week and José Abreu homered twice, leadingChicago.
Rodón (3-0) worked around five walks, giving up a homer and throwing 110 pitches — only four fewer than in his gem on April 14.
Nationals 3, Cardinals 2: Washington's Yan Gomes drew a four-pitch walk from Giovanny Gallegos to force in the goahead run in an odd eighth inning that also featured St. Louis deploying a fiveman infield, and the host Nationals came back to edge St. Louis.
St. Louis led 2-1 entering the eighth. But Gallegos (2-1) walked a batter, then hit one, before Trea Turner's RBI single to right on an 0-2 count tied the
Seattle 4, L.A. Dodgers 3 Minnesota at Oakland, ppd.
East
New York Philadelphia Miami Atlanta Washington
West
Los Angeles San Francisco San Diego Arizona Colorado
7 4 8 8 7 9 7 10 6 9
14 4 10 6 10 8 6 10 4 12
.636 .500 .438 .412 .400
.778 .625 .556 .375 .250
TUESDAY
Baltimore 7, Miami 5
L.A. Dodgers 1, Seattle 0
N.Y. Yankees 3, Atlanta 1 Washington 3, St. Louis 2 Pittsburgh at Detroit, ppd. Arizona at Cincinnati, late
San Francisco at Philadelphia, late N.Y. Mets at Chicago Cubs, late Houston at Colorado, late Milwaukee at San Diego, late
— 11⁄2 21⁄2 3 3
— 3 4 7 9
WEDNESDAY
San Francisco (DeSclafani 1-0) at Philadelphia (Eflin 1-0), 1:05
Baltimore (Zimmermann 1-1) at Miami (Rogers 1-1), 1:10
Pittsburgh (TBD) at Detroit (TBD),
2:10, 1st game
Houston (Urquidy 0-1) at Colorado (Gomber 0-2), 3:10
St. Louis (Martinez 0-3) at Washington (Scherzer 0-1), 4:05
Milwaukee (Houser 1-2) at San Diego (Weathers 1-0), 4:10
Atlanta (Anderson 0-0) at N.Y. Yankees (Kluber 0-1), 6:35
Arizona (Kelly 1-2) at Cincinnati (Mahle 1-1), 6:40
Pittsburgh (Keller 1-2) at Detroit (Turnbull 0-0), 6:40, 2nd game
N.Y. Mets (Peterson 1-1) at Chicago Cubs (Davies 1-2), 7:40
MONDAY
S.F. 2, Philadelphia 0
St. Louis 12, Washington 5 Milwaukee 3, San Diego 1 Seattle 4, L.A. Dodgers 3
game.
ELSEWHERE
Giants: Buster Posey is the most accomplished catcher in franchise history, but he’s not the catcher responsible for matching a franchise record that dates back 120 years.
That honor belongs to
Curt Casali, who caught a shutout in his fourth consecutive start on Monday at Citizens Bank Park to match the club record set in 1901 by another backup, “Broadway” Aleck Smith.
Phillies: Infielder
Neil Walker announced his retirement Tuesday at age 35 after 12 major league seasons.
Walker hit .267 with
149 homers and 60 RBI for Pittsburgh, the New York Mets, Milwaukee, Philadelphia, Miami and the New York Yankees. Walker spent one season with the Marlins, in 2019, batting .261 with eight homers in 115 games.
Nationals: Juan Soto, the reigning NL batting champ, went on the 10day injured list with a strained left shoulder.