Jordan Yamamoto impresses in major league debut

As far as MLB debuts go, it doesn’t get much better than what Marlins starting pitcher Jordan Yamamoto put together Wednesday night. The 23-year-old threw seven scoreless innings and gave up only three hits in a 9-0 victory against the St. Louis Cardinals to snap his club’s six-game losing streak.

Yamamoto cruised through his first three innings of work without allowing a hit. The only “trouble” he found himself in all night was in the fourth inning, when he allowed two straight hits to start the inning. But that inning was quickly escaped after a fly out followed by a double play.

Yamamoto’s pitch count was in the 70s after six innings, efficient enough for Don Mattingly to keep him in when his spot came up in the batting order during the bottom of the frame. The cherry on top of an amazing all-around performance, he laid down a suicide squeeze bunt for his first RBI.

Aside from allowing a walk to Yadier Molina, Yamamoto cruised through the seventh in 14 pitches. His seven innings of work ties the Marlins club record for most innings pitched in an MLB debut. This is the fourth time it’s happened, with Dillon Peters being the most recent occurrence in September 2017.

After averaging less than two runs per game over their last six games, the Marlins’ offense showed a little of the firepower we saw during their previous hot streak. Garrett Cooper started the scoring in the first inning after being driven in by a Brian Anderson single.

Cooper then broke the game open in the very next inning with a grand slam to left-center field.

Cooper went 3-for-5. Just a double shy of the first cycle in Marlins history, he struck out in each of his final two at-bats. He ranks fourth on the team this season with 20 RBI despite missing more than of their games due to injury.

Yamamoto—3.58 ERA, 64 K, 25 BB in 65.1 IP at Double-A in 2019—was widely considered a “throw-in” piece of the Christian Yelich trade package. But he performed remarkably under these circumstances, lacking any Triple-A experience and preparing for a call-up on short notice when José Ureña was placed on the 10-day IL Tuesday with lower back tightness.

Composed on the mound, the emotions flowed freely in his postgame interview with FOX Sports Florida:

The one unfortunate development from this game concerns veteran infielder Martín Prado. He suffered an injury running down the first-base line in the fourth inning and was removed from the game with what the Marlins are calling hamstring tightness.

A stint on the IL is possible.

Miami will have an off-day on Thursday before starting a three-game weekend series against the Pittsburgh Pirates. Trevor Richards will take the hill for Miami. Richards is coming off one of his best starts this year, in which he gave up one run on two hits in seven innings. First pitch at 7:10 p.m.

Cardinals vs. Marlins box score (Baseball Theater)

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