MIAMI -- Much has been written about the inexperienced Marlins roster. The same could be said for first-time manager Clayton McCullough and his coaching staff, many of whom are in new roles in their professional careers.
It¡¯s easy to second-guess decisions after the fact, especially when the results don¡¯t work in one¡¯s favor. Such was the case for McCullough and Co. after the Mets¡¯ decisive seven-run fifth inning in the Marlins¡¯ 10-4 loss on Monday night at loanDepot park.
¡°We're going to go through all kinds of first-time experiences and things with our group this season, coaching staff included,¡± McCullough said. ¡°You file away every experience as something. You take away something from those and just go into what was our process going into that as things unfolded. We'll reevaluate that, and ultimately, how the results ended up playing out.¡±
While veteran right-hander Cal Quantrill didn¡¯t pitch a clean inning through his first four frames in his club debut, he did limit the Mets to one run -- a Starling Marte third-inning homer -- entering the fifth. Quantrill, who went four frames in a Grapefruit League game on March 21 and pitched five innings during last Wednesday¡¯s workout, entered the frame at a manageable 62 pitches.
But things quickly unraveled for the 30-year-old in what was a 1-1 ballgame at the time.
Luisangel Acu?a led off the inning with an infield hit (105.9 mph exit velocity) and scored on Jose Siri¡¯s RBI double (104.4 mph) to the right-center-field gap. Quantrill then hit Marte.
Despite southpaw Anthony Veneziano warming up in the bullpen, the Marlins elected to keep Quantrill on the mound at 77 pitches to face left-handed-hitting slugger Juan Soto for a third time. Soto had previously rocketed a single (105.9 mph) and flied out on another hard-hit ball (99 mph).
¡°Cal's a veteran, been in a lot of the spots before, and he'd been throwing well,¡± McCullough said. ¡°He got some traffic. Had Anthony going in the event we wanted to pull the trigger there, but we felt [Quantrill] had, still, a couple opportunities to get himself out of there and kind of keep things where we were. Give him a chance to get through that.¡±
If a less-experienced pitcher was on the mound, might McCullough have made a different decision?
¡°I think we look at all those: Game state and where we're at, who is individually in that spot,¡± McCullough said. ¡°The decision tonight, with giving Cal a chance to get out of it, was the decision tonight in that moment. We'll just look at each one of those independently as they continue to come up.¡±
Quantrill, for his part, wasn¡¯t surprised he remained in the game.
¡°Nope, I'm a starting pitcher,¡± Quantrill said. ¡°I'm in there until I'm not.¡±
Neither was Mets skipper Carlos Mendoza, who finished third in 2024 National League Manager of the Year voting in his first year.
"No, that's their decision," Mendoza said.
Quantrill fell behind 2-0 before evening the count at 2. Soto, one of the Majors¡¯ best eyes at the plate, spit on a splitter and cutter in the dirt to work a six-pitch walk and load the bases. That brought out first-time pitching coach Daniel Moskos for a mound visit.
¡°I got into some bad counts, tough hit to start the inning, and then just got away from me a little bit there, but I think I threw the ball pretty well up until the fifth,¡± said Quantrill, who became the third second-generation Marlin.
With the infield drawn in and righty George Soriano warming up in the bullpen, Quantrill stayed in the game to face right-handed slugger Pete Alonso. In Monday¡¯s previous two matchups, Alonso popped out to second and ripped a 109.6 mph single.
Quantrill fell behind 3-1 but got back in the count on consecutive foul balls against his sinker. He tripled down on the pitch and paid the price, as Alonso lined a 93.7 mph offering -- in nearly the same location as his third-inning single -- over the right-center-field wall for a grand slam to make it a 6-1 game.
It came on Quantrill¡¯s 28th pitch of the inning and 90th and final pitch of his start. His final line -- six runs on eight hits, one walk and one hit-by-pitch over four-plus innings -- didn¡¯t tell the whole story.
¡°Cal, he threw -- he tried to throw his best offspeed stuff,¡± Alonso said of the seven-pitch battle. ¡°And I did a good job of laying off those pitches -- those breaking pitches -- and worked my way into getting a fastball. And got it over the plate.¡±