Injuries, losses pile up for Marlins during a nightmare weekend in Philly
The Marlins lost 3 of 4 games to the Phillies, faced an apparent COVID-19 scare, put pitcher Pablo Lopez on the IL, and lost shortstop Jazz Chisholm Jr. and first baseman Garrett Cooper to injuries on Sunday.
The Miami Marlins’ weekend in Philadelphia was already shaping up to be a nightmare by the time the final innings arrived Sunday. They dealt with an apparent COVID-19 scare Friday, placed Pablo Lopez on the 10-day injured list Saturday and lost Jazz Chisholm Jr. to a shoulder injury in the first inning Sunday. They were tumbling toward their second loss of the day — and third in four games against the Philadelphia Phillies — and they knew they were going to head to Washington in serious danger of falling entirely out of contention.
In the bottom of the eighth inning, the situation somehow got worse. Travis Jankowski dropped down a bunt, Jorge Alfaro threw to first base and Jankowski collided with Garrett Cooper’s
arm. The slugger headed off the field with a left elbow injury only a few minutes before the Phillies finished off a 7-4 win over Miami in Philadelphia.
“It was kind of one of those days,” manager Don Mattingly said. “You start off hopeful where you’re at, hopefully able to put two on the board and you don’t get either one, and then you see Jazz go down and you see Coop go down.”
Said outfielder Adam Duvall: “It didn’t go the way we planned.”
While there was no immediate update on Cooper’s status, the initial diagnosis was at least promising for Chisholm. The middle infielder appeared to be in serious pain after landing awkwardly on his left arm while trying to make a diving play in the bottom of the first, but early Xrays came back negative. He and Cooper will both undergo further testing once the team gets to Washington.
Chisholm’s injury happened right off the bat, only about an hour after Miami lost on a 10th-inning, walk-off home run by All-Star catcher J.T. Realmuto at the end of a suspended game from the day before. Bryce Harper blooped a single to shallow right field in the bottom of the first inning and Chisholm tried to make a diving, over-the-shoulder grab to rob the star outfielder.
The rookie’s left arm, however, hit the ground before the rest of his upper body and he immediately started grabbing at his left shoulder. The crowd of 20,588 at Citizens Bank Park mostly fell silent. Chisholm stayed on the ground for close to 30 seconds while Mattingly and trainer Gene Basham ran out to check on him.
He eventually rose to his feet and tried to walk off the pain as his left arm dangled limply at his side.
Basham prodded at Chisholm’s left shoulder while Mattingly, Cooper and outfielders Starling Marte and Adam Duvall stood close by. Chisholm eventually walked off the field with Basham and Mattingly at his side, letting his left arm dangle while he hid his face in the crook of his right elbow.
The game was scoreless when Chisholm left, and the Marlins (40-53) eventually built a 4-2 lead against All-Star starting pitcher Zach Wheeler in the second inning, only to cough it up in the fifth and eventually blow it altogether when the Phillies (47-45) scored two against rookie relief pitcher Anthony Bender to take a 6-4 lead in the sixth.
The two losses Sunday drop Miami to a seasonworst 13 games below
.500 and put the Marlins 9 games behind the first-place New York Mets in the National League East. They’re now guaranteed to go into the July 30 trade deadline with a sub-.500 record, and could leave their weekend in Pennsylvania down two more of their best hitters, plus a top-three starting pitcher and another regular starting outfielder.
On Friday, Miami placed rookie outfielder Jesus Sanchez on the IL without any designation — an indication it’s COVID-related. On Saturday, Lopez landed on the 10-day IL with a right rotator cuff strain and will be out until at least Saturday. The Marlins have not yet placed either Chisholm or Cooper on the IL, but could Monday depending on what the next round of testing reveals.
“Those are two staples in the lineup. You don’t ever want to see anybody to go down, and to have two of those in that game — it was obviously tough as a team,” said Duvall, who hit his 20th home run of the year in the fourth. “Obviously, we need those guys, and I’m hoping that they’ll be back soon.”
Chisholm, who has batted leadoff in 50 of his 69 starts this year, is hitting .251 with a .755 onbase-plus-slugging percentage, and is one of only 12 players in the Majors with at least 11 home runs and 11 stolen bases. Cooper, who has batted third in 26 of his 55 starts this year, leads Miami with an .854 OPS and is second on the team in batting average.
Chisholm, who entered the 2021 MLB season as the No. 66 overall prospect in MLB.com’s rankings, is a contender for an MLB Rookie of the Year Award and is playing like a future All-Star. Cooper, 30, is productive enough to potentially be a valuable trade chip and still young enough to be a long-term piece for a rebuilding team.
The Marlins have less than two weeks to decide their course of action at the deadline, and this weekend in Philadelphia — every piece of it, from the losses to the injuries — might make general manager Kim Ng’s decision for her.
UP NEXT
Miami continues its road trip with a threegame series against the Washington Nationals, starting Monday at 7:05 p.m. at Nationals Park.
The Marlins will piece together a bullpen game Monday, and Mattingly said pitcher Ross Detwiler is likely to get the starting nod. All-Star starting pitcher Trevor Rogers won’t make his first start of the second half until Tuesday as Miami tries to manage the rookie’s innings in the second half of the season.