Marlins blank O's to win in return to action
Joe Frisaro
@JoeFrisaroSporting a revamped roster with 17 different players from Opening Day, the Marlins returned to game action on Tuesday night and picked up where they left off.
After an eight-day layoff due to the spread of the coronavirus within their clubhouse, Miami rode five shutout innings from Pablo L¨®pez, plus home runs from Francisco Cervelli and Jes¨²s Aguilar, and beat the Orioles, 4-0, at Camden Yards.
The Marlins improved to 3-1 and were surprisingly sharp considering their long layoff and the fact that many players spent more than a week being quarantined.
¡°A lot of new guys with the same goal,¡± Aguilar said of the new cast of players. ¡°We're pulling in the same direction. There are a lot of new faces, but the same goal.¡±
Aguilar joins Derrek Lee (2002) and Cliff Floyd (1998) as the only Marlins to homer in three of the club¡¯s first four games.
With three-fifths of the Marlins¡¯ rotation on the injured list -- Sandy Alcantara, Caleb Smith and Jos¨¦ Ure?a -- L¨®pez is being leaned upon to lead the revamped staff.
¡°The toughest part is we lose one, two, three in our pitching rotation,¡± manager Don Mattingly said. ¡°We'll see how that goes, because that¡¯s usually what tells the story.¡±
The 24-year-old L¨®pez did his part on Tuesday -- tossing five shutout innings while allowing two hits. The seven strikeouts mark a personal high, previously set on March 30, 2019, in a win over the Rockies.
"He¡¯s got a good arm, but he hasn¡¯t thrown this year, so we really didn¡¯t know a whole lot of what to expect," Orioles manager Brandon Hyde said. "Give him credit, he threw a really nice game in his first start."
Like the rest of the players confined to a hotel in Philadelphia for more than a week, L¨®pez became creative in staying sharp. Aguilar did Zumba in his room. Others sprinted in the hallways.
¡°You have to adapt and adjust to what you're given,¡± L¨®pez said. ¡°We spent that time in the room in Philadelphia, so I had to figure it out. We had to throw with a sanitary sock. Throw into a mattress. Throw against pillows, against couches.¡±
Against Baltimore, L¨®pez relied mainly on his best two pitches. His four-seam fastball maxed at 94.8 mph, according to Statcast. His changeup averaged 87 mph, and he threw 19 of them, getting five swinging strikes.
¡°I have been working with that changeup for so long that I know I can trust the grip, and make sure I have good arm speed when throwing it,¡± he said.
The Marlins claimed the lead in the fifth inning on Francisco Cervelli¡¯s home run off John Means. Cervelli expects to handle a bulk of the catching duties with Jorge Alfaro and Chad Wallach on the injured list.
Eight relievers on Miami¡¯s Opening Day roster tested positive for COVID-19. A couple of new members of the relief corps -- James Hoyt and Richard Bleier -- combined to throw two shutout innings, with three strikeouts. Familiar faces Brad Boxberger and Brandon Kintzler polished off the eighth and ninth innings, respectively.
Even with a makeshift roster, the Marlins came together quickly.
¡°We didn't gather anyone,¡± Mattingly said of player introductions the past two days. ¡°All of our meetings today were on Zoom. We were able to Zoom two meetings last night with our pitchers, and then we had a Zoom today with our players.
¡°Honestly, it's hard, because you can't really get together and talk as a group or anything like that.¡±