Josh Ekness Makes MLB Debut in Marlins Loss

MIAMI — The Miami Marlins lost big against the Philadelphia Phillies 7-2 on Sunday, but it wasn’t a total loss for the Fightin’ Fish.

Sunday was the day right-handed pitcher Josh Ekness exited the Marlins bullpen and entered a Major League mound for the very first time. He threw a hitless inning in his MLB debut.

The Marlins selected the contract of Triple-A reliever Josh Ekness on Saturday, adding him to the 40-man roster after a 6-5 loss to the Phillies on Friday. Ekness told reporters on Saturday he “didn’t quite know how to feel” when he got the news of his call-up.

“Honestly, I’m kind of just spinning,” Ekness said. “It’s not necessarily something I was expecting, especially this early in the year.”

Ekness got the call-up after the Marlins sent down Cade Gibson after a 50-pitch outing on Friday. In the middle of a stretch in which the Marlins are playing 26 games in 27 days, they need fresh arms in the bullpen, especially with their closer on the injured list.

“He was throwing great,” manager Clayton McCullough said on Saturday of Ekness. “Coming in this year, we thought very highly of Josh within our organization. It’s big stuff, certainly a big heater, good breaking ball. He had a great camp with us this year. As much as the performance and the stuff that he has, we’ve seen Josh take a lot of strides as a professional in his routine and his mindset, and felt like those were probably the areas where Josh could continue to take steps in that regard. The talent that he has would shine out with more regularity, and he has.”

Ekness struck out 21 batters but had allowed nine runs (eight earned) on 13 hits and six walks over 12.2 innings for Triple-A Jacksonville this season. In Double-A last year he earned 10 saves in 12 opportunities.

“I think mainly putting an emphasis on the execution part of things and being more external has helped me kind of limit some of the bigger misses and uncompetitive misses, and helped me just get focused on getting ahead and staying ahead in counts,” Ekness said. “Usually, I’m pretty good at putting guys away when I get to the counts, but I just needed to be efficient and get to those counts to have that opportunity.”

The Phillies scored six runs on Marlins starting pitcher Chris Paddack in the first inning, including a three-run homer by Bryson Stott. Paddack lasted 2.2 innings having given up seven runs (six earned) on five hits with three walks and a strikeout. He now has a 7.34 ERA on the season.

Phillies left-hander Jesus Luzardo finished with 6.1 innings with two runs allowed on eight hits and 10 strikeouts. His only blemish came off a two-run home run by Esteury Ruiz. 

The Marlins look to split their four-game series against the Phillies on Monday.