BY SCOTT MORGANROTH
Like all teams during a 162-game season, there are no shortage of injuries. Baseball can be defined as a See-Saw where there are plenty of Ups and Downs.
The one thing I’m not going to do is go over the list of transactions all-season because you would stop reading this story. What I will say is the Marlins are 56-49 under first year manager Skip Schumaker and are in contention for a playoff spot.
One of the biggest contributions came from rookie starting pitcher Eury Perez, who mustered a 5-3 record when the Marlins pitching staff was short-handed during the first half of the season.
After the All-Star Break, Miami came out of the gate and one of those valley’s resulted in an eight-game losing streak as they were swept by the Baltimore Orioles and St. Louis Cardinals 3-0 on the road, and lost two consecutive games to the Colorado Rockies at home. Colorado won the series 2-1.
When would the streak end?
The Fish sent Jesus Luzardo to the hill on Sunday, July 23 to be the stopper.
Luzardo did everything in his power by working seven innings, giving up four hits, allowing only one run, yielding two walks and striking out a career high 13. He also tied a career high with seven innings and tossed a career high 115 total pitches.
His previous high of 12 strikeouts occurred twice last year (April 12, 2022 at the LA Angels, and October 2, 2022 vs Atlanta). It also tied the club record for the most strikeouts by a left-handed starter, tying Braxton Garrett, who struck out 13 on June 22, 2023 against the Pittsburgh Pirates.
His final strikeout was against Brenton Doyle, who homered off him in the fifth, and stranded two runners in the seventh. Luzardo finished with double digit strikeouts for the sixth time this season.
He nearly improved his record to 9-5, but unfortunately AJ Puk gave up the tying run and wasn’t able to hold on to the Marlins 2-1 lead in the top of the ninth inning. Puk gave up a home run to designated hitter Randal Grichuk that knotted the game at 2-2. This was a tough no-decision for Luzardo.
But the Rockies found a way to lose in the bottom of the 10th inning. Luis Arraez singled home the winning run with the bases loaded and the Marlins came out on the winning end of a 3-2 decision.
With the Rockies playing five infielders, Arraez hit a line drive to an empty right-field off Pierce Johnson (1-5) scoring Joey Wendle from third base. This made a winner out of Huascar Brazoban, who improved to 4-2.
Normally, I don’t believe in moral victories, but there is always an exception to every rule considering that Luzardo came through when his team needed him the most. Arraez amassed three hits, but his last one was climactic.
If there was ever a team that was relieved, this was it as Bally’s Field Reporter Kelly Saco got a water bath during a post-game interview.
Before the game, I asked Schumaker about what he thought about the teams’ organizational depth as you’re going to be able to see in the video provided. Also, if you haven’t already, please subscribe to the South Florida Tribune You Tube Channel.
In the past 10 games, the Marlins are 4-6 and as of this post, were concluding a three-game home stand versus the Detroit Tigers.
Scott Morganroth can be reached at southfloridatribune@gmail.com and he can be found on Twitter @TribuneSouth. Once again, you can subscribe to the South Florida Tribune You Tube Channel.
