ST. LOUIS -- Hours before the Marlins dropped their ninth straight game to open the season, manager Skip Schumaker acknowledged the early challenge of figuring out bullpen roles. His starters have been unable to go deep into games, and unlike during the 2023 campaign when the relief corps was nearly unbeatable, Miami has blown all four of its leads in ‘24.

“Part of my job is squeezing out every little piece of juice that I have out of them, and finding ways to get them going and then feel good about it and confident about it,” Schumaker said. “So if they're not succeeding, that means I'm not succeeding. That's just what it is. That's this job. So figuring out the right position to put them in, the right lane, whatever it is -- and it could be a different role today. I don't know.

“We're kind of figuring it out as we go. It's still early in the season. But if we don't get that right, we're not going to be very good. And so it's part of our job to figure it out. And obviously my seat, it's the No. 1 job to figure it out.”

It was more of the same -- a disjointed club struggling to get all facets rolling at the same time -- in the 3-1 loss to the Cardinals on Saturday afternoon at Busch Stadium. The Marlins joined the 2016 Twins and Braves as the only teams that have started a season 0-9 in the last 20 years. Both of those clubs finished last in their divisions (Minnesota went 59-103, Atlanta went 68-93).

There was a new development on Saturday to monitor moving forward: Right-hander Bryan Hoeing, who had been used in a long-relief role in his first two outings of the season, tossed a scoreless sixth by escaping a self-inflicted bases-loaded jam.

“I thought it played well,” Hoeing said of his stuff in a shorter stint. “I got into some pretty good counts, and then with two strikes, I left a couple of sinkers over the middle of plate and they hit a couple base hits. I felt good, though. I was going to go back out there if we scored a couple runs, but we didn't, so I was one and done. I'll be available for tomorrow.

“You don't like to get in bases-loaded situations, but when you do get into that situation, to be able to get out of it hopefully prepares you for later in the year when a situation like that comes up again, especially facing a guy like Paul Goldschmidt who can do some damage in situations like that. So to get him to roll over there with two outs, bases loaded, was a big play there to keep us at three runs and give our offense a chance to come back and win the game.”

Entering Saturday, Hoeing ranked in the 85th percentile in fastball run value, the 81st percentile in offspeed run value and the 80th percentile in breaking run value, according to Baseball Savant. He has decreased his four-seam usage, relying more on his sinker and slider with the occasional split-finger.

Left-handed batters are just 1-for-9 this season against Hoeing, after hitting .293 in 2023.

“We're trying to figure it out, honestly,” Schumaker said of Hoeing’s role. “He's done a nice job in the length role, but we're trying to figure out how to hold games and close games out. With his sinker/split combo now against lefties, he's doing a nice job against them. He's always been good against righties, so we're just trying to figure out exactly [what] the best way to use him [is].”

The 27-year-old Hoeing has been the lone bright spot for a bullpen that has a 6.12 ERA and a .302 opponents' average against. The unit had thrown the second-most innings (42 2/3) despite playing one fewer game than the Padres.

It begins with short starts from the rotation. No Marlins starter has lasted six frames this season, including left-hander Trevor Rogers, who allowed three runs (two earned) in five innings Saturday.

“As a collective, as a unit, I think we all understand that going five innings every start is not going to cut it,” Rogers said. “Every single guy in this rotation has the ability, has the stuff to go seven innings-plus every time, and I think it's just those small little things that are getting us. [I'd] rather all of us get it out now and early in the season, and I think as a collective we'll be heading in the right direction; there's no doubt about it.”