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5 Takeaways from Marlins Series Loss to Braves

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The Miami Marlins entered their weekend series against the Atlanta Braves with an opportunity to extend their unlikely lead in the NL East. Despite having 20 players on the IL, Miami sat atop the division in August for the first time in franchise history. The Braves rolled into town down one game in the standings, but they’ve owned the Marlins of late. In 2019, Miami dropped 15 of 19 games to the Braves. The Marlins haven’t taken a series from Atlanta since 2017.

Here’s a look at five takeaways from the Marlins series loss to the Braves.

Marlins Loss to Braves: A Missed Opportunity

The Marlins hosted their home opener with control of the NL East. This unexpected development came despite losing more than half of the Opening Day roster to COVID-19. Miami welcomed in the Braves, who’ve won the division for the last two seasons.

Atlanta arrived minus keys players, with Ronald Acuna Jr. and Ozzie Albies missing from the lineup and three-fifths of their starting rotation out. Despite that, the Marlins were unable to extend their lead in the division.

Ahead of the homestand, Miami’s schedule featured 15 straight games versus NL East opponents. After going 1-2 versus Atlanta, the Marlins will face the Mets for four games before a five-game weekend series in Washington. They’ll finish their 15-game NL East stretch in New York with three more against the Mets.

If the Marlins are serious about making a playoff push in 2020, they’ll need to win these series.

Bats Went Silent

On Friday night, the Marlins piled up eight runs on 10 hits, but eight of those 10 hits were singles. Miami used speed to pressure the Braves, including stealing home for the second straight game. Eight of the 10 hits on Friday were singles, and most of those came from the bottom of the order.

After a rousing 8-2 win on Friday, the Marlins proceeded to score just one run over the next 18 innings.

Between Saturday and Sunday, the Marlins went 0-for-6 with runners-in-scoring-position. On Sunday, they saw just two pitches with a runner in scoring position. For the series, Miami managed three extra base hits, and one of those came thanks to aggressive baserunning from Magneuris Sierra, who stretched a soft single to right into a double.

Over their last three losses, the Marlins are a combined 1-for-14 with runners-in-scoring-position and a grand total of two extra-base hits.

Starting Pitching Solid

The Marlins wasted a pair of excellent starting pitching performances over the weekend. On Saturday, Daniel Castano tossed a career-high six innings, allowing just four hits and one earned run. He lowered his ERA to 4.35 with the outing.

Castano threw 80 pitches and made just one mistake. To start the seventh inning, he surrendered a home run to Marcel Ozuna on a changeup left out over the plate. Otherwise, he was sharp in what was his second career MLB start.

On Sunday, Elieser Hernandez continued his solid stretch to start the season. He went five scoreless innings, allowing just three hits and tying a career-high nine strikeouts. 57 of his 81 pitches went for strikes and he lowered his ERA to 1.84. In three starts this season, Hernandez has pitched 14.2 innings and has allowed runs in just one of those. He’s posted 19 Ks and only two walks thus far.

On Friday night, Pablo Lopez went a season-high six innings, surrendered two earned runs on seven hits and piled up eight strikeouts. He remained sharp throughout. His ERA in 2020 stands at 2.25.

Mattingly Finally Fed Up

Marlins manager Don Mattingly lost it with home plate umpire James Hoye in the fifth inning of Sunday’s game. Mattingly argued vehemently about the strike zone and was ejected. His profanity-laced tirade was caught by the Braves TV broadcast.

After the game, Mattingly did not address the altercation, saying the discussion about umpiring was “not worth getting into.” He revealed there had been many complaints from players regarding the zone, but shrugged and said: “It is what it is.”

The Marlins had the same umpiring crew for the last three series (Hoye, Roberto Ortiz, Mike Estabrook and Mark Carlson). Before Friday’s game, Mattingly admitted they “do get frustrated with the zone,” particularly the inconsistencies from day-to-day.

“I think the biggest thing you look for is that consistency of the zone. That’s one thing that seems to be missing,” Mattingly said on Friday. He also admitted that there’s not much to do about it.

Reinforcements Needed, And Potentially on the Way

After having their roster decimated by COVID-19, the Marlins scrambled to assemble a competitive roster. To their credit, the team emerged from quarantine and ran off five wins in a row. But since that streak, the team is 2-5. While most assumed the difficulties would come from a makeshift bullpen, it’s actually been inconsistencies in the lineup that have hurt the most.

Versus the Braves, Miami’s best hitters failed to come through. Brian Anderson did not record a hit during the three-game series. Jesus Aguilar went 2-for-11 and Jonathan Villar went 3-for-12. Those two combined to drive in four runs no Friday, but nothing on Saturday and Sunday.

One day after coming through with big hits, both Monte Harrison and Lewis Brinson were hitless Sunday. Harrison’s game-tying home run on Saturday proved to be a wonderful moment for the young man, but he followed that with a 0-for-3 performance with two strikeouts. Brinson tallied two hits on Saturday but went 0-for-2 with two Ks Sunday.

Word came out of Marlins camp yesterday that all 18 players affected by COVID-19 have been approved for reinstatement by the joint MLB/MLBPA committee. The players have reported to Jupiter for training and rehab. This lineup needs an injection of life, and that could come from Jorge Alfaro, Garrett Cooper, Harold Ramirez and Miguel Rojas.

The pitching staff could have Sandy Alcantara back as early as next weekend. Craig Mish reported Alcantara has thrown a bullpen session already and will progress to a sim game this week.

Daniel Castano

Meet the Marlins: Daniel Castano

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The Miami Marlins five-game winning streak has come amid unprecedented roster turnover. The club has made nearly 40 roster moves since resuming their season after an 8-day COVID-19 hiatus. Come game time tonight, Miami will have seen eight straight days of MLB debuts, with the latest being Daniel Castano.

So many new faces have joined the club that Marlins manager Don Mattingly admitted to not having personally met players who were taking the field for him.

“A pretty good roster turnover here,” Mattingly said last week. “Some of the guys I’ve never met and still at this point have not met — texted with, but not met. There are other guys that we’re comfortable with that we know are coming. They were part of our summer camp and actually our spring also so parts of it are comfortable.”

Marlins catcher Francisco Cervelli voiced a similar sentiment, saying he was meeting pitchers for the first time at the mound.

The Marlins will have their ninth different starting pitcher take the hill for their ninth consecutive game. Tonight, it will be 25-year-old prospect Daniel Castano, whose contract was among those selected by the team to fill the void left by the COVID-19 outbreak.

Marlins’ Daniel Castano’s Career Thus Far

Miami acquired Castano as part of the Marcell Ozuna deal with the St. Louis Cardinals. The 25-year-old lefty came to the Marlins with RHP Sandy Alcantara, RHP Zac Gallen and OF Magneuris Sierra on 12/14/2017. The Cardinals drafted Castano in the 19th round of the 2016 First-Year Player Draft out of Baylor University.

In 2017 with the Cardinals organization, Castano went 9-3 with a 2.57 ERA for Short Season-A State College over 14 starts, striking out 81 in 91.0 innings. He earned a New York-Penn League Midseason All-Star berth that year.

After coming over to the Marlins, Castano moved through three levels of Single-A ball, ultimately earning an MILB.com Organizational All-Star berth in 2018. He made eight starts for Single-A Greensboro, going 4-3 with a 2.70 ERA in 50.0 innings and striking out 52. 14 starts for Jupiter followed, going 5-8 with a 4.74 ERA in 76.0 innings. He finished the season in Advanced-A Jupiter. All told, he went with a 9-12 record with a 3.93 ERA.

Castano split 2019 between Advanced-A Jupiter and Double-A Jacksonville. He made 12 appearances for Jupiter, going 0-2 with a 3.82 ERA in 33.0 innings pitched, striking out 31. He earned a promotion to Jacksonville on May 27 and went 7-2 with a 3.35 ERA in 18 games (11 Starts), striking out 73 in 86.0 innings pitched.

Castano doesn’t have overpowering stuff, unlike fellow prospect Jorge Guzman. He registers his outs through command and control. His fastball measures 88-92 mph, topping out at 94. There’s some sink to it and he hides the ball well. He throws strikes and has an effective, slow curveball. He’s has shown considerable growth over his minor league career and will look to fill the void in the starting rotation.