MIA 0, LAD 7; Bauer Outage

The Marlins were overwhelmed by the reigning National League Cy Young winner in suffering one of their most lopsided defeats of the 2021 season. On the bright side, Saturday had the earliest start time of any game so far this week, freeing us from the horror slightly after midnight on the east coast.

• Jordan Holloway—3.0 IP, 2 H, 2 ER, 4 BB, 2 K, 74 pitches, 25.7 CSW%
• Trevor Bauer—7.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 10 K, 113 pitches, 31.9 CSW%

Home plate umpire Chad Fairchild had an interesting strike zone. A handful of pitches that were clearly wide of the plate—on either side—were called strikes. Marlins hitting coach Eric Duncan took exception to it early and voiced his concerns loud enough for Fairchild to eject him. The Dodgers’ Matt Beaty would also exit the game early for the same reason.

Holloway showed his great potential the first time through L.A.’s lineup. His fastball velocity generally sat in the 95-96 mph range, topping out at 97.0. He located the pitch on the edges of the zone more consistently than he had in his previous start on Monday in Arizona. That threat pressured the Dodgers into chasing his breaking balls.

However, Holloway abruptly lost control of the game in the fourth inning. The Dodgers began their rally with back-to-back singles from Justin Turner and Max Muncy, then Will Smith and Chris Taylor drew consecutive walks to force in a run.

Ross Detwiler inherited the bases-loaded jam and allowed one more of those runners to cross the plate. The Dodgers cushioned their lead to 4-0 with another pair of runs against Detwiler in the fifth.

Just like his rotation mate Clayton Kershaw on Friday, Bauer racked up lots of swinging strikes, but he was far more effective overall because he also limited hard contact. The Marlins didn’t have any batted balls that even sniffed the warning track.

All these games are interconnected. The decision to recall prospect Braxton Garrett illustrates that concept perfectly. Sandy Alcantara’s disastrous outing in the series opener demanded 6 ²⁄₃ innings from a bullpen that was already under a heavy strain. In a vacuum, Cody Poteet deserved to stick on the active roster and make a start during the upcoming Phillies series, but the Marlins did not have the luxury of looking that far ahead: they needed a fresh arm to get them through the weekend. So Poteet was optioned as the corresponding move for Garrett.

Sure enough, the combination of mediocre Marlins pitching and Bauer’s excellence created a low-leverage, multi-inning relief situation that was perfectly suited for Garrett. The young lefty’s results were mixed, but he utilized his full four-pitch mix and even picked up a strikeout with his slider (something he hadn’t done during his initial MLB cup of coffee in 2020).

Star shortstop Corey Seager batted enough times to “win” his Fish Picks prop over Miguel Rojas, but was removed in the bottom of the fifth after getting plunked in the hand by a 90 mile-per-hour Detwiler Sinker. His status for Sunday is unclear.

Don Mattingly implied in his postgame comments that Jazz Chisholm Jr. (hamstring strain) will be reinstated from the injured list in time for the series finale.

On the mound, we will see Pablo López attempt to bounce back from his disappointing performance earlier in the week. The Dodger intend to mix-and-match their way through a bullpen game. First pitch at 4:10 p.m. ET.

Fish Picks Answer Key

1. Seager
2. Under
3. Under
4. No
5. Dodgers