LOS ANGELES – The Marlins placed closer Pete Fairbanks on the 15-day injured list with nerve irritation and recalled left-hander Cade Gibson from Triple-A Jacksonville ahead of Tuesday’s 2-1 victory over the Dodgers at Dodger Stadium.
According to manager Clayton McCullough, Fairbanks will not throw for a handful of days and let the medication work before beginning a throwing progression. Fairbanks previously landed on the IL with a nerve-related issue on April 22, 2024 (retroactive to April 19). He began a rehab assignment that May 7 and returned May 11.
"Just having dealt with it before, barring setbacks, hopefully it's a minimum stay," Fairbanks said. "It's something where if we're able to get this soft tissue quality right, it hopefully clears up quick. I went through three rounds of treatment today and definitely saw some progress, so we're just going to try and keep on that, get to being asymptomatic with any of the tension and irritation that has kind of been built up. And then, pick up a ball again and hopefully it's like we didn't miss anything."
Fairbanks, who loaded the bases with one out during Monday night’s 5-4 walk-off loss, exited after experiencing numbness in his right hand during his third free pass – an intentional walk to Freddie Freeman – of the frame. He had walked just one of 36 batters entering the outing.
“Just a lot of diminished sensation,” Fairbanks told MLB.com Monday night. “Felt like any movement of the wrist would exacerbate loss of sensation in the index finger. So we'll see where it goes and how to work on it, but it was pretty frustrating, results aside, just to feel like things are going wrong and you don't know what it is.
“And obviously I've dealt with the nerve stuff before, and it is still just as frustrating, because it's such a complex chain from neck to fingertip with a lot of entrapment spots. So just trying to figure out what exactly is going on and work on it.”
With Fairbanks missing time, the Marlins will go closer-by-committee like they did in 2025. Miami wanted to avoid doing so by signing Fairbanks to a franchise-record $13 million deal for a reliever over the offseason.
Nine relievers recorded a save in 2025, led by right-hander Calvin Faucher (15). Breakout star Ronny Henriquez (seven) got most of the high-leverage opportunities as the season progressed, but he is sidelined in 2026 after undergoing UCL surgery.
Righties Anthony Bender and Tyler Phillips each saved four games in 2025, followed by righty Lake Bachar (three). Faucher and Bender have been used as setup men in 2026, while Phillips and Bachar have given the club multiple innings in most of their outings.
When Fairbanks exited Monday’s ninth inning, Faucher had already tossed a scoreless eighth and Bender had pitched on consecutive days. So Phillips took over and struck out Will Smith before Kyle Tucker connected on Phillips’ splitter for the walk-off two-run single.
On Tuesday, Bender threw a scoreless seventh and righty Michael Petersen allowed one run and recorded just one out in the eighth before lefty John King retired consecutive batters to escape a jam. Phillips then worked around a one-out single in the ninth to collect his second save of the season.
"Tyler can go to a different place when he comes onto the mound," McCullough said. "Couldn't find a nicer person, great dad, but when the gates open, Tyler has a switch that he has found, and flips it, and he's going to go out there and be incredibly aggressive, and he's a great competitor. For me, there was no hesitation putting him in that spot, because we've seen him collect so many big outs over the last couple of years. So he got right back out there tonight and did a great job."
Gibson, who lost out on an Opening Day bullpen spot to fellow lefty Andrew Nardi, had struck out 15 batters and walked four in 13 2/3 innings for the Jumbo Shrimp this season. He had a 2.63 ERA and a 0.732 WHIP in 10 outings. Gibson joins Nardi and King as southpaw relief options.
"Everyone's capable of stepping up," King said. "All eight guys in the bullpen are capable of that. We believe in one another, and I know the team believes in us, too, so we're just going to keep going and attacking and stick to our stuff."