Miami bullpen falters in opener
WASHINGTON – This was not how the Miami Marlins envisioned their grand offseason plan playing out on the field.
Head down and brow sweaty, David Phelps could barely watch as Adam Lind circled the bases and gave the Washington Nationals the lead. Phelps is the Marlins’ floating relief ace — pitching early or late, for one inning or multiple, whenever manager Don Mattingly wants him — and arguably the best pitcher in what is expected to be a strong Miami bullpen.
But on Monday, on Opening Day, that was not the reality. Instead, Phelps blew the lead, and the Marlins’ bats went silent late in a 4-2 loss to Washington.
“Coming into a game when it’s 2-0, and leaving when it’s 3-2, regardless of the game, it’s a pretty big deal,” Phelps said. “Everything is magnified [on Opening Day] because you don’t have any stats with it. It is what it is.”
The faltering bullpen was all the more glaring after the first two portions of the Marlins’ blueprint — a lead from their offense and a good-enough start from their pitcher — came through. That seemed to hand it off to the relief corps, which did not.
After right-hander Edinson Volquez pitched five scoreless innings, Phelps entered. Then came the homers.
Bryce Harper sent a solo shot to center in the sixth to get the Nationals on the board. In the seventh, Phelps was an out away from a perfect inning when Matt Wieters’ single kept it alive. Lind, pinch-hitting, sent a 2-0 fastball down the middle over the wall in center. “It was two outs and no one on, and it turned into two runs,” Phelps said. “We’re preaching ‘little things,’ and that third out is one of our little things.”
Added Mattingly: “A rough day for [Phelps] today. He’s a guy we know is going to bounce back and handle that.”
Only six batters have faced Phelps more often than Lind, who is 6 for 15 (.400) with three homers and two doubles against him.
“I’ve faced Lind enough in the past to know what I was trying to do there,” Phelps said. “I didn’t execute.”
The Nationals added a run in the eighth off righthander Junichi Tazawa, who allowed all three of his batters to reach base. Brad Ziegler bailed him out with a strikeout and double play.
The first half of the game developed about as the Marlins would hope and expect: five shutout from marquee offseason addition Volquez, plus RBI hits from Giancarlo Stanton and Marcell Ozuna.
Volquez scattered four hits and one walk while working into and out of trouble. He struck out six batters, including four in a row in the first and second innings.
He twice put the first two runners on and evaded further trouble. After Trea Turner and Adam Eaton reached to open the game, Volquez struck out the heart of the Nationals’ lineup — Bryce Harper, Daniel Murphy and Ryan Zimmerman — swinging. And in the fourth, an eight-pitch at-bat by Stephen Drew ended with a double play, helping Volquez escape that two-on, no-out jam.
Volquez threw 82 pitches before Mattingly lifted him for Phelps.