Marlins' makeshift staff completes DH sweep
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A patchwork Marlins pitching staff eventually gave up a run, but they did not surrender the lead.
The Marlins relied on their bullpen to pick up the slack for a depleted rotation, and they did their part in a 2-1 win over the Orioles on Wednesday in Game 2 of the doubleheader at Camden Yards.
Miami completed its twin-bill sweep, with both games lasting seven innings. The Marlins (5-1) have taken the first three in the series and have won four straight games.
“It's like a little eye-opener today, especially,” manager Don Mattingly said. “Seeing guys we haven't seen. Some of our guys, we don't know what we're going to get necessarily. Some of our guys have just been sitting for awhile.”
Mattingly matched Jack McKeon for the most wins of any Marlins manager with 281. Miami is off to a 5-1 start for the first time since 2014.
Unsure of who would be available to start the second leg, the Marlins didn’t announce their starter -- Josh A. Smith -- until after blanking Baltimore, 1-0, in Game 1.
Miami's makeshift pitching staff posted back-to-back shutouts between Tuesday’s 4-0 win and Wednesday’s Game 1 win, and it was not scored upon until the sixth inning in Game 2.
Pablo López got the series started with a strong performance on Tuesday, and Elieser Hernandez kept that rolling in Game 1.
“It started with Pablo in the first game, he set the tone for the whole staff,” said Sterling Sharp, who made his MLB debut and threw 1 2/3 innings. “We just fed off that. It's a real contagious feeling once you see guys go out there putting up zeros. You want to match that.
“In the clubhouse, you could feel the vibe from all the new guys, too. They're just coming in and they want to contribute. We've got a good vibe going. Everybody is excited. We want to push forward.”
The Marlins’ streak of 21 straight scoreless innings in the series was snapped on Austin Hays’ two-out RBI single in the top of the sixth. Going back to its 11-6 win at Philadelphia, Miami’s staff had gone 24 consecutive frames without allowing a run.
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The home team in the nightcap, the Marlins scored twice in the first inning off Asher Wojciechowski on Jesús Aguilar’s sacrifice fly and Brian Anderson’s RBI single.
“All it's about for us is trying to get wins,” said Anderson, who started at first base for the first time in his MLB career “Just piecing them together any way we can. As of lately, our pitching has been incredible. I don't know how they go from throwing into a mattress and going out and getting big league hitters out like that. But whatever they're doing, we've got to keep doing it.”
Smith, on the club as a reliever, made the emergency start and worked two scoreless innings. Smith, 32, appeared in 18 games, with two starts, with the Red Sox in 2019, logging 31 innings. He gave up a hit, a walk and a strikeout in his 12th MLB start in a career that started with the Reds in 2015.
In the third inning, Sharp, a Rule 5 Draft claim formerly in the Nationals’ organization, stepped on the mound for the first time and gave up only one hit.
The right-hander had four baseballs authenticated, including his first out and first strikeout.
“I actually got a ton of balls,” Sharp joked. “I've got to look at what every one is for.”
Sharp was lifted with two outs and a runner on second in the fourth inning, and lefty Brian Moran, a waiver claim from earlier in the week, logged a strikeout to strand the runner in scoring position. Moran was credited with the win.
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Moran struck out three over one inning, and lefty Stephen Tarpley earned his first save after tossing 1 1/3 scoreless innings.
“I’ve been impressed with their pitching, for those guys to be shut down in a hotel and throw the way they’ve been throwing," Orioles manager Brandon Hyde said. "They’ve done a nice job."
The Marlins have been struck hard by the coronavirus, with 18 players who have tested positive since Opening Day. In honor of them, a cardboard cutout of each player on the injured list was positioned in the stands.
“I feel like we've been playing for half a season,” Mattingly said. “It's been a rough trip, as far as all that's happened to us.”