Marlins cool Colorado’s bats, win 2-1 on Opening Day

The heroes of the World Baseball Classic came through at the plate to lead the Miami Marlins to a 2-1 win over the Colorado Rockies on Opening Day on Friday.

Owen Cassie drove home the first run of the game in his first plate appearance as a Marlin. Cassie was the prize in a trade with the Chicago Cubs for pitcher Edward Cabrera. He showed off his potential early in the WBC, going 7-for-17 with a home run and five RBIs in five games to lead Canada to its first quarterfinal round.

Cassie then scored on an RBI double by Javier Sanoja in the second inning. Sanoja, who won the WBC for Venezuela, went 3-for-3 to lead the Marlins at the plate.

“We just stayed true to ourselves and grinned out every at-bat, every pitch, and got the job done,” Cassie said after the game.

It turned out to be the only scoring needed for the win. Sandy Alcantara pitched his team-record sixth Opening Day start and went seven innings allowing no earned runs on four hits, two walks, and five strikeouts.

“Sandy was unbelievable,” Marlins first baseman Connor Norby said after the game. “It was vintage Sandy.”

The bullpen of Andrew Nardi, Anthony Bender, and closer Peter Fairbanks combined for three hits and four strikeouts in the final two innings. Marlins manager Clayton McCullough was impressed with how Alcantara, a Cy Young award winner in 2022, went deep with only 73 pitches.

“All in all, this was a great start to the year for Sandy to go that deep in the game, be that efficient, and as well as to be able to execute at the rate he did today,” McCullough said after the game.

Norby originally was slated in the lineup as the designated hitter. He was moved to first base after Christopher Morrell was scratched due to an oblique injury before the start of the game. Norby dubbed himself the “jack of all trades” and went 2-for-3 at the plate, while playing mistake-free defense.

“Do whatever helps the team win,” Norby said. “There are no excuses in this game. Don’t have a ton of experience over there but I felt pretty good over there.”

Hunter Goodman led the Rockies at the plate with a 2-for-4 night. Jordan Beck drove Ezequiel Tovar home in the fourth inning for Colorado’s only run.

Kyle Freeland took the loss after allowing two runs on five hits with two strikeouts in 4.1 innings pitched. The Denver native set a Rockies franchise record in pitching his fifth Opening Day.

The two teams will meet again on Saturday. Eury Perez will start for the Marlins against the Rockies’ new starter, Michael Lorenzen.