Marlins’ pitching woes continue, but help expected this weekend
Pitching injuries have piled up for the Marlins the first six weeks of this season, but there’s promising news: Two starters are slated to return for the remaining two games of this weekend’s series against the Phillies.
Jesus Luzardo was expected to be activated from the injured list after Friday’s 8-2 loss at loanDepot park and take the mound Saturday. And fellow left-hander Braxton Garrett will make his season debut Sunday against the team he faced in Game 2 of the National League Wild Card series last fall.
Their return couldn’t come at a better time.
Another awful outing from Trevor Rogers on Friday accentuated that.
Removed after allowing five runs (four earned) in 3 1⁄3 innings, Rogers walked into the dugout, hurled his glove, flung an object off the bench, spiked his ballcap, and bashed cups of water atop two coolers.
“There should be a lot of pissed off people. No one wants to get their [butt] kicked every night,” said
Marlins manager Skip Schumaker. “People are probably sick of that and there’s probably frustration. Anger is good at times. It means you care. If you’re just going through the motions … then you’re not made for this. I don’t mind a broken helmet, a bat slam, whatever you’re doing — there’s got to be some kind of emotion.”
Rogers, who surrendered eight earned runs in 2 1⁄3 innings in his previous start, Saturday at Oakland, said Friday’s outburst was the result of his continued struggles. He came into the game 0-5 with a 6.15 ERA in seven starts.
“I just haven’t been doing my job, giving the team any chance to win,” Rogers said. “It seemed like they were hitting the ball all over the yard — I can’t make pitches and just not pitching well.”
Schumaker was hopeful the 26-year-old southpaw would perform well against the Phillies, despite their best record in baseball and a potent lineup. He noted before the game that Rogers had worked “pretty hard” between starts to regain his velocity and perhaps he’d see “a really good version of Trevor.”
Schumaker wouldn’t. Rogers surrendered nine hits, including a home run from Nick Castellanos to right centerfield to lead off the second. After Castellanos homered, Edmundo Sosa doubled, and Johan Rojas singled to score Sosa.
In the fourth, Whit Merrifield reached safely on third baseman Jake Burger’s fielding error, Sosa walked, and Cristian Pache smacked an RBI-double. Two batters later, Kyle Schwarber stroked a tworun single. J.T. Realmuto followed with a groundrule double. Rogers then intentionally walked Bryce Harper and Schumaker replaced him with Declan Cronin.
The next two days give the floundering Marlins some optimism. Opening Day starter Luzardo is returning from left elbow tightness that landed him on the IL late last month, and Garrett has healed from a shoulder injury.
“I wanted to be back as soon as I could,” said Garrett, who pitched 24 innings in five rehab appearances, allowing eight earned runs with 29 strikeouts and four walks. “That was my first time not being with any team for a long period. We’ve been struggling and it sucked not being here with the guys fighting through it with them.”
Bothered by shoulder soreness at the start of spring, Garrett was later determined to have an impingement. He then suffered a setback in his rehab when he felt a “dead arm” while throwing a bullpen session last month.
“I wouldn’t say I was super concerned,” Garrett noted. “I was just disappointed. I felt like I had gotten really far and then had to stop. But I’m feeling good now.”
Garrett, who started last year’s season-ending playoff loss to the Phillies and allowed three hits and two runs in three innings, was the Marlins’ most consistent starter in 2023. He held opponents to one earned run or fewer in 16 of his career-high 30 starts and posted a 3.66 ERA in 159 2⁄3 innings pitched.
“My outlook going into starts doesn’t change much [this year],” Garrett said. “I’m trying to get ahead and get quick outs. Maybe find ways to get outs a tad quicker and not go for the punch-out as much.”