Urena goes 5 on rough day for Marlins pitchers

April 10th, 2019

CINCINNATI -- Jose Urena lasted longer on Tuesday in Cincinnati than he had in either of his first two 2019 starts.

Longer didn’t lead to a better outcome for the 27-year-old Marlins right-hander.

Urena logged five full innings against the Reds, one out longer than his previous high this season, but the Reds roughed him up for eight hits and four runs in those innings, two on Jesse Winker’s first 2019 home run, and Cincinnati went on to club Miami, 14-0.

Urena (0-3), who finished with three walks and four strikeouts, actually lowered his ERA from 10.38 going into the game to 9.22, but he needed 91 pitches to negotiate his outing.

“It was more of the same,” Marlins manager Don Mattingly said. “He needed a lot of pitches. He didn’t have much command of anything. We couldn’t get anything going offensively, and we needed a well-pitched game.

“He’s never been a big swing-and-miss guy,” Mattingly added. “He needs a lot of pitches to get through a game.”

Urena is trying to not think too much about his control.

“The biggest thing for me is, too many times, my pitch count gets up,” he said.

He needed 94 to get through 4 2/3 innings in his first start and 78 to get through four in his second outing.

By stark contrast, the Marlins were virtually helpless against former Marlins prospect Luis Castillo. The right-hander, part of the package given up by Miami for Dan Straily in January 2017, allowed just two hits and one walk in seven innings. He struck out eight, at least five with a changeup described on more than one occasion this season as “filthy,” while helping send the Marlins to their second shutout loss in the last four games.

“His stuff is good,” Mattingly said. “He’s pitched good this year. I’ve watched his games. He’s given good teams trouble. He has a really good changeup and his fastball is 96-98 [mph]. He’s got the weapons to make you uncomfortable.”

Urena pitched a gem compared to ’s sixth and seventh innings. The left-hander gave up seven hits, including consecutive home runs by Matt Kemp -- a three-run shot -- Eugenio Suarez and Scott Schebler, while facing 10 batters in a seven-run sixth inning. Kyle Farmer added a three-run shot in the seventh and Kemp just missed a second homer in the same inning, sending right fielder Peter O’Brien to the warning track.

Miami’s single-game franchise record for homers allowed is six. It’s happened twice, the last time on July 4, 2008, at Colorado.

Chen might be having trouble adjusting to his new, long-relief role, Mattingly said. He pitched just two innings, the fewest of any Marlins pitcher, in their first 10 games.

“You can’t use that as an excuse,” Chen said through a translator. “As a player, if they give you a job, you have to do it. I just have to keep working hard to make the adjustment.”

The Reds, who’d scored only 21 runs in their first 10 games, erupted without Yasiel Puig, who was serving the first game of his two-game suspension for his involvement in a bench-clearing incident on Sunday in Pittsburgh.

The Reds almost immediately put pressure on Urena. The first two batters both swung at the first pitch and connected, with Winker flying out to center fielder Lewis Brinson and Joey Votto doubling off the left-field wall. Suarez whistled a shot up the middle to drive in Votto, who scored before Suarez was caught in a rundown.

Three straight one-out hits, capped by Schebler’s single to right, gave the Reds a 2-0 third-inning lead.

Winker, 1-for-24 (.042) with zero runs batted in going into the game, doubled the lead with his opposite-field shot on a 3-1 95.5 mph two-seam fastball that reached the first row of seats in left field. Winker’s homer, on Urena’s 65th pitch of the game, survived a 26-second crew chief review apparently searching for possible fan interference.