MIAMI – A scary outfield collision that resulted in a Little League homer just about sums up how things are going for the Marlins right now.
During the eighth inning of Wednesday night’s 9-1 loss to the Braves at loanDepot park, center fielder Esteury Ruiz and right fielder Owen Caissie ran full speed toward the right-center warning track trying to track down Dominic Smith’s fly ball.
Ruiz momentarily caught the ball, but the 6-foot-4, 190-pound Caissie crashed into the 5-foot-11, 169-pound Ruiz and trapped him against the wall at the warning track before faceplanting. Ruiz recovered to retrieve the ball, but his relay throw got away from shortstop Otto Lopez, allowing Smith to score on the play.
“I think it looked even worse on TV than it actually felt,” Ruiz said via interpreter Luis Dorante Jr.
Though no blood was shed, the Marlins (22-28) will need to stop the metaphorical bleeding – and soon.
With the defeat, Miami is 12 games behind first-place Atlanta in the National League East. The Mets’ loss to the Nationals kept the Marlins one-half game out of the division cellar.
Recent history is on the club’s side. A year ago on this date, the Marlins lost, 14-1, to the Cubs to fall nine games below .500 at 19-28. Miami would drop to a season-low 11 under three days later.
That same ballclub turned things around beginning on June 13, going 54-41 the rest of the way and staving off elimination until the season’s final week.
“I don't know if I can sit here and pinpoint a specific thing,” manager Clayton McCullough said. “We just have to hang in the fight. Our clubhouse believes in our staff, and we know that we are certainly capable of getting on a good run and stringing some wins together and winning some series. Right now, we're just not doing that.
“And to do that, a lot of facets have to come together. Where we're at right now is where we're at, and we have a long road ahead of us. Keep taking a step forward and come out tomorrow. We have a chance to even up a series with Sandy [Alcantara] on the mound here, and that's what we'll be focusing on.”
If the Marlins expect to turn things around, it begins with their starting pitching. Through Wednesday, their 4.93 rotation ERA ranks fifth worst in the Majors.
It didn’t get any better with a second consecutive rough start for Janson Junk, who has surrendered 15 runs over his last 10 2/3 innings. While Junk’s outing in St. Petersburg was death by a thousand cuts, this one was powered by a pair of three-run homers.
“It's pretty unacceptable, and I need to look it over and figure out what we can do better, learn from it and do the best I can to figure out what we're doing wrong, what they're seeing, stuff like that,” said Junk, whose season ERA was 2.82 on May 4.
Alcantara isn’t back to his 2022 NL Cy Young form, but he has been reliable outside of two blowups, with a quality start in seven of 10 outings. His 1.3 fWAR is tied for ninth among NL starting pitchers. After years of injuries and questions about whether he could stick as a starter, Max Meyer has emerged with a 2.85 ERA and a 1.4 fWAR (tied for seventh).
But there are question marks otherwise.
Eury Pérez has the fourth-highest ERA (5.33) among qualifying MLB starting pitchers with 50 or more innings, and the fifth rotation spot is a revolving cast of characters similar to the Defense of the Dark Arts job at Hogwarts.
Offseason signee Chris Paddack was designated for assignment earlier this month, Robby Snelling has a left UCL sprain and Braxton Garrett was demoted after a second straight short start.
Offensively, the lineup needs to get going outside of Lopez (MLB-high 68 hits) and Xavier Edwards (fWAR leader for MLB second basemen), who manufactured Miami’s lone run in the first.
“We've just got to stay on course, stick to our process, not get too down on ourselves,” Junk said. “I'm specifically talking about me, but when anybody goes through failure, it's a long season, you can turn it around if you set your mind to it. I think we have all the talent in here to win more than what we won last year. We've just got to keep coming to the field with our heads up and keep putting in the work.”