BY SCOTT MORGANROTH
As we approach the dog days of summer, the 2024 season has been a difficult one for the Marlins as their record currently stands at 22-42 leading into the final game of their series vs the Cleveland Guardians (41-22).
To summarize the recent challenges for the fish, all you have to do is look at the last three series.
From May 27-29, Miami lost 2-3 games on the road to the San Diego Padres and they faced former teammate Luis Arraez. The Padres took the first two games of the series by successive 2-1 and 4-0 scores. Miami won the finale 9-1.
Would returning home change the fortunes of the Marlins?
Absolutely not.
From May 31-June 2, The World Champions Texas Rangers came to loanDepot Park and took 2-3 from Miami.
For the second straight night, the conclusion of the Padres series and beginning of the Rangers, Marlins bats came alive taking the opener 8-2.
But things went down hill from there as the Marlins never scored another run in the Rangers series by dropping successive 7-0 and 6-0 decisions.
In the game we saw on June 2, Texas left-handed pitcher Andrew Heaney entered the contest with a 1-6 record and a 4.47 ERA. Six innings later, he didn’t give up any runs and amassed seven strikeouts and yielded no walks. The Rangers bullpen shut down the Marlins with three clean innings and Heaney watched his record improve to 2-6.
Rangers second baseman Marcus Semien reached base all five times. He had one hit, a fielders choice and walked three times as Texas cruised to the easy win.
Marlins pitcher Trevor Rogers hurled six innings and gave up four runs on six hits as his record dropped to 1-7. The Marlins amassed only five hits in this contest.
The Tampa Bay Rays came to town from June 4-5 in the Sunshine Series but things looked gloomy for the Marlins as Rays won the series 2-0 with successive 9-5 and 5-3 outcomes.
As a result, Miami has lost three straight series.
Making a rare appearance to South Florida, the Cleveland Guardians came to town for a weekend three-game series vs the Fish from June 7-9.
Miami took the opener 3-2 in Friday Night, but lost the second contest 8-0 on Saturday.
This set the stage for the rubber game of the series which was Dontrelle Willis Bobblehead day.
Sunday’s pitching match-up was Carlos Carrasco (2-5, 5.66 ERA) for Cleveland facing Trevor Rogers (1-7, 5.68 ERA for Miami.
Nobody will be able to blame Rogers’ for what occurred as he went five innings and yielding just one run and struck out four.
Tough luck Trevor’s only run came off the bat of Guardians DH Gabriel Arias in the third inning that gave Cleveland a 1-0 lead.
The Marlins scored a run in the fourth and fifth innings and took a 2-1 lead.
But in the sixth inning, the Marlins bullpen imploded by giving up three runs thanks to the bat of Cleveland center-fielder Tyler Freeman’s blast that the Guardians a 5-2 lead. AJ Puk gave up these runs and was the losing pitcher. He dropped to 0-7 in 2024.
Miami committed two errors in the game.
In the ninth inning, both teams scored runs as the final score was 6-3. Freeman also scored a run in the ninth inning. In the bottom of the frame, Jake Burger belted a round tripper that went approximately 383 feet to left field, his fifth homer of the season.
The Marlins have now lost four consecutive series and saw their record drop to 22-43. Meanwhile, Cleveland’s record improved to 42-22.
Earlier in the week, the Marlins moved on from a free agent during the Derek Jeter regime. They decided to eat the $23 million left on Avisail Garcia. The 32-year old has been plagued by injuries and below average play.
Meanwhile, the Marlins have Monday off and then travel to New York and play the Mets for a three-game series. They’ll also face the Washington Nationals in the Nations Capital for three more contests. We’ll see if they can finally win a series.
The Guardians, who rarely travel to South Florida, drew crowds of 10,718, 15,669 and 12,850.
Scott Morganroth can be reached at southfloridatribune@gmail.com and you can follow him on Twitter/X @TribuneSouth.
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Finally, his book “Lessons From The Microphone” can be purchased on Amazon-Kindle and Barnes & Noble. The auto book is on the way.
