These 3 Marlins could be barometer for Miami's progress

PHILADELPHIA -- In the Marlins’ 2-0 loss to the Phillies on Friday night at Citizens Bank Park, three Miami players were used in a different capacity than usual. Could it signal something to monitor moving forward?

RHP Kyle Tyler
With seven starting pitchers on the injured list, the organization’s upper-level depth is being tested.

Tyler, who has moved into a starting role out of necessity, gave up just one run -- on Bryson Stott’s RBI fielder’s choice that chased Tyler with two outs in the fifth -- in his second Major League start.

Manager Skip Schumaker gave Tyler a longer leash this time out – from 64 to a career-high 81 pitches – but didn’t want him to face Trea Turner and other batters in the heart of the order for a third time. Miami trailed by one, and with the way lefty Cristopher Sánchez was pitching, another run would likely put the game out of reach.

After a perfect first, Tyler allowed at least one baserunner in each of the next four frames. He bent but did not break. Moving forward, Tyler would like to end some at-bats sooner -- like his 15 combined pitches to Nick Castellanos in two plate appearances.

“Just being more efficient, limiting the long at-bats,” Tyler said. “If I can limit that, it'll give me a much better opportunity to go deeper.”

CF Vidal Bruján
With Jazz Chisholm Jr. nursing a sore right hand after being hit by a fastball during Thursday's series opener, Schumaker turned to Bruján rather than Dane Myers in center field.

Bruján, who has mainly played second base (66 games), shortstop (34), right field (29) and third base (17) in the Majors, made his third start of the season -- and fifth in his career -- in center. Though Bruján gets in pregame work with outfield coach Jon Jay, a lot has to be learned through game situations. That much was evident on Friday.

It started off on the right foot when Bruján robbed Stott with a diving catch to open the first, but three innings later, some miscommunication and inexperience led to a leadoff double for Turner, who lined a ball into the left-center gap. Left fielder Bryan De La Cruz and Bruján raced to the ball, and when De La Cruz called for it, Bruján backed off as the ball dropped between them. Luckily for the Marlins, Tyler worked out of the jam.

“I think in that situation, I should have called for the ball,” Bruján said via interpreter Will Nadal. “I did not. De La Cruz did call for it, but I think I need to be a little bit more vocal in that instance, and I think that's something that I'll get as I continue to play out there, making sure that I'm calling that ball in that situation when I'm the center fielder.”

Another play that won’t show up on the scoreboard had a role in the Phillies adding an insurance run in the eighth.

Johan Rojas sent a grounder up the middle and hustled to second when he noticed Bruján didn’t charge the ball. After moving to third on a wild pitch, Rojas scored on Stott’s sacrifice fly. Schumaker had a conversation with Bruján about the play, and the skipper believes it won’t happen again.

“That's what they were telling me about, the coaching staff, is I have to be more aggressive out there with my reads, try to be able to pick the ball up, not have that happen,” Bruján said. “But something that I talked about, and I'll keep practicing.”

C Ali Sánchez
Friday night was the second straight game that Nick Fortes hasn’t started behind the plate, marking the first time since May 12-13 -- when Christian Bethancourt, who has since been released, did so.

While Fortes’ blocking (81st percentile) and caught stealing (98th percentile) metrics are among the best in MLB, he has struggled at the plate. His 17 wRC+ ranks lowest among MLB backstops with at least 150 plate appearances.

Miami knows what it has in Fortes. The organization would like to see more of Sánchez.

After Sánchez collected two hits from the ninth spot on Thursday, he went hitless in three at-bats on Friday. He threw out Stott to end the fifth, but he also permitted two steals.

“[Fortes] is fine,” Schumaker said pregame. “I thought Ali did great yesterday, so he deserves another start. He had some really good at-bats. I love how he's building those relationships with the pitchers. You see him talk with him after every single inning. You see him talk with them, not only on the field but in the dugout, and really game planning well trying to learn these guys. So I thought he earned another start after watching him yesterday and see where it's at.”