Miami hopes for lasting impact from Realmuto

NEW YORK — So, all the Marlins needed was J.T. Real- muto?

While it remains to be seen how much of a long- term effect the catcher can have on the struggling lineup, Realmuto gave Miami the offensive jolt it desper- ately needed Tuesday night during a 9-1 win over the New York Yankees.

In his third at-bat in the fifth inning, Realmuto belted a three-run home run off Yankees starter Masahiro Tanaka that broke the game open.

Realmuto said before the game he hoped he could provide a spark to an offense that e ntered the game ranked last in the National League in home runs and extra-base hits and worst in the majors in slugging percentage.

“That’s what I’m trying to do, but hopefully sparks last a lot longer than one game,” Realmuto said. “We got to celebrate this one and put it behind us and go to work.” Realmuto went 2 for 4 with four RBIs in his season debut after being sidelined with a back bruise since March 11. “I think he’s been prac- ticing on his hitting,” said Miguel Rojas. “It’s great to have him back and putting together good at-bats, espe- cially in this cold weather.” Tomas Telis, Starlin Castro and Derek Dietrich each had two hits as the Marlins struck quickly with three runs in the first and one in the second, capitalizing on a pair of Yankees errors. Rojas also extended his hitting streak to 10 games, matching a career high. The scoring output was the Marlins’ highest this season and snapped their three-game losing skid. They open a four-game series at Milwaukee tonight.

Left-hander Jarlin Garcia picked up his first career win and matched some historic marks for consecutive no-hit innings in a pitcher’s first career starts.

Garcia, a former reliever who threw six no-hit innings in his previous start last Wednesday against the Mets, carried another no-hitter into the fifth Tuesday before Miguel Andujar doubled to end a streak of 10 consecutive no-hit innings. Andujar later broke the Marlins’ shut- out bid with a solo homer in the ninth off Brad Ziegler.

Per Elias Sports, Garcia’s streak matched the modern MLB record set by Bobo Holloman in 1953 for the St. Louis Browns by a starting pitcher to begin a career. It also matched the second-longest such streak in franchise history, second only to Armando Benitez’s streak of 11 in a row in 2004.