Puk struggles in first start for Marlins
A.J. Puk showed so much promise in spring training as the Miami Marlins converted from being a high-leverage reliever to a starting pitcher.
That spring success didn’t translate in his first MLB start.
Puk recorded six outs, giving up four runs on three hits and six walks while striking out just one in a 7-2 Miami Marlins loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates on Friday at loanDepot park.
The Marlins fall to 0-2. Pittsburgh is 2-0.
“The regular season is a different beast,” Marlins president of baseball operations Peter Bendix said on the Bally Sports Florida broadcast in the third inning, during which Puk didn’t record an out to any of the four batters he faced before being taken out of the game.
Puk’s command was erratic at best. His four-seam fastball missed too high. His sweeper missed too low.
Of his 68 pitches, only 33 were strikes.
Puk needed 21 pitches to get through a scoreless first inning, working around a two-out walk to Ke’Bryan Hayes by getting Andrew McCutchen to pop out in foul territory.
Trouble then began brewing in the second when he loaded the bases on consecutive walks to
Edward Olivares and Henry Davis and an Oneil Cruz single. Puk then issued his third walk of the inning, this time to Jared Triolo, to force in a run before Michael A. Taylor hit a sac fly to give the Pirates a 2-0 lead.
The results from the four batters Puk faced in the third: Bryan
Reynolds walk, Hayes RBI double, McCutchen walk and Olivares RBI single.
“He’s come out of his delivery and seems to be fighting himself,” Bendix said on the broadcast. “This is part of what you have to go through when you’re changing roles. He has to make adjustments on the fly now.”
Puk couldn’t make the adjustments, and it led to Miami’s bullpen having to cover seven innings after doing the same on Thursday in a 6-5, 12-inning loss to begin the season.
Right-handed pitcher Bryan Hoeing did his part to keep Miami
in the game, tossing four innings of relief and giving up just one run to get the Marlins through the sixth. Burch Smith pitched the seventh and eighth innings, giving up two runs. George Soriano pitched a scoreless ninth.
Miami’s runs came on a Jake Burger RBI single in the third that scored Luis Arraez and a Christian Bethancourt RBI groundout in the ninth that scored Tim Anderson. The Marlins hit into four double plays on Friday and seven total through the first two games of the season.
INJURY UPDATES
Right-handed pitcher Edward Cabrera (right shoulder impingement) threw a 20-pitch bullpen Friday.
Right-handed pitcher JT Chargois (neck spasms) is doing lower-body workouts.
Utility player Xavier Edwards (left foot infection) is hitting and throwing in Jupiter.
Left-handed pitcher Braxton Garrett (left shoulder soreness) threw two innings in Jupiter on Thursday. He is scheduled to throw a bullpen in Miami on Sunday and then have another outing in Jupiter.
Right-handed pitcher Eury Perez (right elbow inflammation) is throwing from 105 feet, mixing in breaking balls.
Left-handed pitcher Josh Simpson (left elbow ulnar neuritis) is scheduled to throw a bullpen Saturday in Jupiter.