Marlins bats silenced by Sean Reid-Foley in 6-1 loss, spoiling Brigham’s debut

The Marlins caught Sean Reid-Foley at the wrong time. He overwhelmed them with a mid-90s fastball on Sunday afternoon, attacking the strike zone early and often. Opposing starter Jeff Brigham—making his MLB debut—was much less polished in the 6-1 loss.

• Sean Reid-Foley: 7.0 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 10 K (101 pitches)
• Jeff Brigham: 3.0 IP, 4 H, 3 ER, 4 BB, 2 K (82 pitches)

In addition to the stat line above, Brigham hit a batter with his fastball and nearly hit another with a curveball (that never really curved). His control simply wasn’t there, often missing his target by several feet instead of inches.

On the other hand, the rookie right-hander broke off a nice one for his first career strikeout:

The Blue Jays rallied against Brigham in every inning.

They took the initial lead in the first on a Kendrys Morales sacrifice fly. Pitching coach Juan Nieves had to make a mound visit with the bases loaded and two outs in the second. Brigham got the pop up he needed on the following pitch to keep the score at 1-0. But it was evident in the third that he wasn’t sharp enough to settle in. The deficit had swelled to 3-0 when catcher Luke Maile drilled a double to left field. Fortunately, a strong relay from Rafael Ortega to JT Riddle to Chad Wallach led to an assist at home plate to bail Brigham out of further trouble.

If Don Mattingly sticks to his announced plan (and sounds like he will), the 26-year-old should get another four starts down the stretch as a member of the six-man rotation.

Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports

Brett Graves took over for Brigham and had been coming off a mostly successful August. However, in his second inning of relief, Graves served up a three-run homer to Teoscar Hernández. It was the only time he’s been taken deep in 15 MLB appearances.

The other arms out of Miami’s bullpen prevented the Blue Jays from piling on, including Nick Wittgren, who had spent the last two months at Triple-A New Orleans. He’ll have opportunities to cement his place on the 2019 staff after showing flashes of excellence earlier in the summer.

The only notable rally from the Marlins offense against Reid-Foley occurred in the bottom of the fifth. Wallach took a hit by pitch to load the bases with nobody out. But aside from the Riddle walk that forced in a run, they failed to take advantage. That meant J.T. Realmuto’s RBI streak came to end.

Interleague play is over for the season and we turn our attention to divisional battles. That’s what the Marlins will be doing for much of the final four weeks, beginning with their Labor Day matchup against the contending Phillies.

Vince Velasquez and José Ureña are the probable starters on Monday. First pitch approximately 1:10 p.m.

FanGraphs

Attendance: 9,617