Dissecting the 0-4 start by the Marlins: Here are four telling stats to consider
The Marlins know there is a long season ahead. One series is not going to define them.
But on Monday night, they began a three-game home series against the Los Angeles Angels on a down note. They were 0-4 after getting swept by Pittsburgh to begin the season. It was the first time since 2001 that the Marlins began a season 0-4, although Miami did go 1-4 to begin last season before figuring things out and ultimately making an unexpected run to the playoffs.
“We have another series. This is baseball. We’re going to lose, we’re going to win,” veteran outfielder Avisail Garcia said Sunday. “This is not going to last forever. So we’ve just got to keep working and believe in ourselves.”
Here’s a by-the-numbers look at how the Marlins got to 0-4.
16: Total innings thrown by starting pitchers in the Pittsburgh series.
Jesus Luzardo went five innings Thursday and Trevor Rogers pitched five as well Sunday. Those were
Results of Monday’s AngelsMarlins game:
the two games Miami was best positioned to win, holding leads of 5-2 and 6-4 when the starter came out.
In the other two games, A.J. Puk was pulled before logging an out in the third inning Friday as his command eluded him, and
Ryan Weathers threw only four innings Saturday as the Pirates ran up his pitch count in his final two frames (he threw 94 pitches overall).
The starters’ problems resulted in an overtaxed bullpen and the Marlins needing at least one reliever to pitch at least three innings in three of the four games. Declan Cronin pitched the 10th through 12th on Thursday, Bryan Hoeing threw four innings Friday and Vladimir Gutierrez tossed four innings Sunday.
Marlins relievers combined to throw 24 innings in the first four games. That was second in MLB behind only San Diego (281⁄3) and the Los Angeles Dodgers (27), both of whom had played six games.
“I know every single one of the guys in there is not happy being 0-4 right now,” Rogers said, “but it’s the beautiful thing about baseball: We’ve got 150-plus games to go, so we’ll get it tightened up and we’ll get rolling.”
2: Total runs scored against the Pirates’ bullpen.
The Marlins last year were one of the best teams when it came to scoring late. They scored 252 runs in the seventh inning or later in the 2023 season, the fifth-most in the National League despite ranking last in the NL overall in total runs scored.
Through four games this year, the Marlins scored just two runs in the seventh inning or later.
.225: Batting average for Marlins hitters not named Jake Burger with runners in scoring position
Burger was one of Miami’s high points in the Pirates series. The corner infielder, who split time between third base and first base, hit .438 (7 for 16) with one double, six RBI and four runs scored. He went 4 for 6 with runners in scoring position.
The rest of the Marlins’ offense went just 7 for 31 when there were runners on second and third base.
Overall, Miami stranded 28 runners through the first four games — 10 on Thursday, eight on Friday and five apiece Saturday and Sunday.
44: Number of groundouts by Marlins hitters.
Through the first weekend of the season, the Marlins were hovering around league average in average exit velocity (88.9 mph, tied for 13th in MLB) and hard-hit rate (40.2 percent, 18th in MLB).
But they were failing to elevate the ball. That was resulting in a slew of grounders, which limited their chances to be productive.
Miami’s 44 groundouts were the second-most in all of MLB entering Monday’s games, behind the 55 by the Padres, who had played two more games than Miami. The Marlins’ average launch angle of just 9.4 degrees was the fifth-worst in baseball.
The Marlins also hit into seven double plays in the first two games of the Pirates series.
Jordan McPherson: 305-376-2129, @J_McPherson1126
East
Atlanta Philadelphia Washington New York Miami Central
Pittsburgh Milwaukee Cincinnati Chicago
St. Louis West
3 1 1 0 0 W
4 3 2 2 1 W
1 2 2 3 4 L
.750 .333 .333 .000 .000
Pct
0 1.000 0 1.000 1 .667 2 .500 3 .250 L Pct
— — 11⁄2 11⁄2 11⁄2 11⁄2 21⁄2 21⁄2 3 3 GB WCGB
—
— —
11⁄2
2 1 3 2 GB WCGB
Arizona Los Angeles San Diego S.F. Colorado
TUESDAY INTERLEAGUE L.A. Angels (Anderson 0-0) at Miami (Luzardo 0-0),6:40
Minnesota (Varland 0-0) at Milwaukee (Junis 0-0),4:10
Detroit (Mize 0-0) at N.Y. Mets (Houser 0-0),7:10
Atlanta (Lopez 0-0) at Chi. White Sox (Crochet 0-1),7:40
N.Y. Yankees (Cortes Jr. 0-0) at Arizona (Gallen 1-0),9:40
AMERICAN LEAGUE
Kansas City (Marsh 0-0) at Baltimore (Irvin 0-0),6:35
Texas (Heaney 0-0) at Tampa Bay (Eflin 0-1),6:50
Toronto (Berrios 1-0) at Houston (Valdez 0-0),8:10
Boston (Bello 1-0) at Oakland (Wood 0-1),9:40
Cleveland (Bieber 1-0) at Seattle (Castillo 0-1),9:40
NATIONAL LEAGUE
Cincinnati (Ashcraft 0-0) at Philadelphia (Turnbull 0-0),6:40
Colorado (Freeland 0-1) at Chi. Cubs (Assad 0-0),7:40
St. Louis (Mikolas 0-1) at San Diego (Darvish 0-0),9:40
S.F. at L.A. Dodgers (Glasnow 1-0),10:10
3 4 3 2 1
1 2 3 2 4
.750 .667 .500 .500 .200
MONDAY
INTERLEAGUE
L.A. Angels at Miami
Atlanta 9, Chi. White Sox 0 Detroit at N.Y. Mets
N.Y. Yankees at Arizona
AMERICAN LEAGUE
Kansas City at Baltimore Texas at Tampa Bay Toronto at Houston
Boston at Oakland Cleveland at Seattle
NATIONAL LEAGUE
Chi. Cubs 5, Colorado 0 Pittsburgh at Washington Cincinnati at Philadelphia St. Louis at San Diego
S.F. at L.A. Dodgers
SUNDAY
NATIONAL LEAGUE Pittsburgh 9, Miami 7 (10)
Philadelphia 5, Atlanta 4 Cincinnati 6, Washington 5 Milwaukee 4, N.Y. Mets 1 Arizona 5, Colorado 1
San Diego 13, S.F. 4
L.A. Dodgers 5, St. Louis 4
AMERICAN LEAGUE
L.A. Angels 4, Baltimore 1 Toronto 9, Tampa Bay 2 Kansas City 11, Minnesota 0 Detroit 3, Chi. White Sox 2 N.Y. Yankees 4, Houston 3 Oakland 4, Cleveland 3 Boston 5, Seattle 1
INTERLEAGUE
Chicago Cubs 9, Texas 5
— — 1 1 21⁄2
— — 1 1 21⁄2