Ureña gets his 1st win behind productive offense

Fangraphs.com

The Marlins’ offense produced, José Ureña got the win, and Brad Ziegler pitched a perfect frame, as the Marlins beat the Cardinals 7-4.

Yes—you’re reading this correctly.

Sixty-eight days into the baseball season, and Ureña finally got his first W of the year. It wasn’t pretty, however. Ureña allowed four leadoff hitters to reach base, and he allowed 10 hits and a walk in five innings.

The Cardinals struck first in the second inning, with the help of a familiar face. Marcel Ozuna continued his hot streak with a single to center. He was then driven home by Yadier Molina.

However, the Marlins were able to take advantage of a rusty Carlos Martínez, who was making his first start since coming off the disabled list. With the bases loaded in the third, Justin Bour grounded into a double play, scoring Starlin Castro. The very next AB, Brian Anderson drove home a run on an infield single to take the lead.

Anderson wasn’t done yet, though. With the score 3-2 in the fifth, Anderson hit a two-run home run to give the Fish some breathing room for Ureña.

The bottom half of the inning brought the biggest test of the game for Ureña. The Cardinals loaded the bases with no outs, and scored on a fielder’s choice from Tommy Pham and a single from Ozuna to cut the Marlins’ lead to one. With Tommy Pham on third, Ureña came up with perhaps the biggest play of the night, with a solid pickoff to get the second out.

The sixth inning brought a JT Riddle home run and a Derek Dietrich sacrifice fly to give the Marlins a 7-4 lead—not that the bullpen needed the help, anyway.

Adam Conley, Drew Steckenrider, and Brad Ziegler gave up no runs, with the latter two allowing no baserunners. Kyle Barraclough got the job done in his first save opportunity since being named the new closer, shutting the door with a 1-2-3 ninth inning.

By the end of the evening, Anderson raised his season batting line to .298/.371/.418. He also leads the club with 28 runs batted in. That’s not far off Dan Uggla’s pace, who set the Marlins rookie record in 2006 (90 RBI).

Swordfish: Brian Anderson (0.35 WPA)

Flounder: Miguel Rojas (-0.14 WPA)

Turning Point: Ureña’s pickoff of Tommy Pham. That erased the Cardinals’ best shot at tying the game.

Please leave any Icthy picks in the comments below. Remember, we introduced a new grand prize for the contest this season!

Matchup Summary

After a much needed day off, the Marlins will embark on their final leg of this horrendous road trip that has seen them go 1-6 with a minus-22 run differential.

José Ureña will once again take the mound in search for his first win of the season. He’s pitching at a below-average clip, with an ERA of 4.41. However, he’s had five quality starts, including his last outing where he went six innings and gave up one earned run, only for the Fish to lose on a Brad Ziegler blown save and a Miguel Rojas error. Of all MLB pitchers with at least 10 starts, he’s getting the least amount of run support, with 2.5 runs/game.

On the other side, the Marlins run into an old friend in Marcell Ozuna. Ozuna struggled at the plate to begin the year, but has gotten hot just in time to face his former team. In his last three games, he’s gone 5-for-10, with 5 RBI, including a milestone home run last Saturday and grand slam on Sunday.

Conveniently for the Red Birds, right-hander Carlos Martínez and catcher Yadier Molina were both activated from the disabled list just in time for this series opener.

Thread Question: How do you feel about the Marlins’ No. 1 pick, Connor Scott? The rest of the draft so far?