Miami Marlins links, 5/11/18: Stecken-wrecked by the Braves

The closest seven-run loss you’ll ever see

Such a misleading final score on Thursday night (9-2). Atlanta’s seven-run explosion in the sixth inning—all with two outs, by the way—made the difference. Drew Steckenrider’s career earned run average rose by a full run, and his 2018 ERA nearly quadrupled from 1.08 to 4.24.

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If you tuned out early, you may have missed the MLB debut of Rule 5 draft pick Elieser Hernández. The 23-year-old’s fastball sat in the low 90s and he mixed in a handful of changeups over two scoreless innings. Get used to Hernández because the club needs to keep him on the active roster throughout this season to gain long-term control (or else return him to the Astros organization).

Lewis Brinson also homered at Marlins Park for the first time (five bombs overall).

Steck is still good, tho

Unfortunate timing for James Mastrucci of Marlin Maniac, who made valid points about how Steckenrider has blossomed into an elite reliever. An implosion like that will skew his stats for awhile, but the former eighth-round draft pick still looks like a huge asset for the Marlins moving forward.

Minor league scores & notes

• Triple-A: New Orleans 8, Round Rock 4; Tyler Kinley pitches two scoreless innings and earns the win in his Pacific Coast League debut
• Double-A: Tennessee 7, Jacksonville 3
• High-A: Charlotte 8, Jupiter 4; what’s old is new again, as outfielder Anfernee Seymour returns to the Marlins organization after parts of three seasons with the Braves and records two extra-base hits
• Low-A: Greensboro 3, Asheville 9; worst outing of the year for tall right-hander Brady Puckett, who didn’t get any help from his defense (five errors)

Stanton opens up about frustration in Miami

Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports

With Giancarlo Stanton now playing a significant role on baseball’s hottest team, Marc Carig of The Athletic asked him to draw comparisons between the present and his Marlins past (subscription required). He’s grateful for the high expectations that the Yankees have in 2018 and all the pressure that comes with it:

“In Miami, we were like two games above .500, I want to say that we were 53-50 maybe?” he recalled. “And the reporters were like how does it feel to be .500? How does it feel to be playing so well? And I was just like, I’m not satisfied with mediocre.”

What bothered him was the premise of the questions. They implied that his team could not be capable of anything more than middling baseball. Too often, this was a demoralizing truth.

“I had to be positive and try not to bring the team down and not bring my teammates down,” he said.

So far, his new team has only spent two days in sole possession of first place, but that’s already more than the 2015-2017 Marlins combined.

25th anniversary update

Less than a month away! If a matchup with the last-place Padres doesn’t appeal to you, maybe some of the perks of Anniversary Weekend will.

More details to come as the June 8-10 festivities draw near.

Injury updates

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Marlins are fortunate to have only four players currently on the major league disabled list. And we’re fortunate that Matthew DeFranks of the Sun Sentinel passed along these updates on each of them:

Right-hander Brett Graves (left oblique strain) and right-hander Odrisamer Despaigne (right forearm strain): both will throw three innings Friday at extended spring training.

Outfielder Garrett Cooper (right wrist contusion): continuing with wrist strengthening and throwing program.

Left-hander Chris O’Grady (left shoulder strain): progressing with his throwing program in Jupiter.

A reunion of sorts

Friday night’s probable starters, Dan Straily and Brandon McCarthy, ought to be very familiar with one another. They were teammates during Straily’s first cup of coffee in the major leagues.

First pitch will be at 7:10pm.