MIA 3, PHI 8; Bullpen meltdown

If it seems too good to be true, it usually is. In the eighth inning of his second game back from a hamstring injury, Marlins rookie Jazz Chisholm Jr. crushed a 100 mile-per-hour fastball for a go-ahead home run. What a moment. But the typically rock-solid Miami bullpen failed in spectacular fashion, allowing the Phillies to immediately respond with a seven spot in this deflating loss Tuesday night.

• Cody Poteet—5.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 3 K, 24.7 CSW%, 85 pitches
• Zack Wheeler—7.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R (0 ER), 0 BB, 10 K, 38.0 CSW%, 92 pitches

Cody Poteet was the lesser of this game’s starting pitchers, but nonetheless continues to distinguish himself as someone who’s wholly deserving of a Marlins rotation spot. Similar to his debut, the right-hander’s fastball velocity averaged 93.8 mph and peaked at 96.5. He picked up several critical called strikes with breaking balls on the edges of the zone.

Poteet’s scoreless effort was most seriously threatened in the bottom of the third inning when he surrendered a long double to Zack Wheeler. However, he kept his composure in navigating through the top of Philly’s order.

Pitching perfectly through one turn of the Marlins lineup, Wheeler allowed the door to creak open in the fourth inning by allowing a leadoff single to Chisholm. The Bahamian phenom drew enough attention at first base to warrant a pick-off attempt that got past Rhys Hoskins—Chisholm took advantage and advanced an extra 90 feet. After a Miguel Rojas single, Adam Duvall gave the Fish a 1-0 lead with a deep sacrifice fly. Duvall is now just four runs batted in shy of his total from last season.

Anthony Bender kept his career-opening scoreless streak intact, but only thanks to Duvall’s mighty outfield assist to nab Alec Bohm and Richard Bleier’s assistance in recording the final out of the sixth.

Jazz caught up to José Alvarado’s high heat for the exhilarating home run...

Alas, the Fish relief corps simply didn’t “have it” despite the benefit of Monday’s off day.

Combining Bender, Bleier, Anthony Bass, Dylan Floro and John Curtiss, they only struck out one of the 21 Phillies they faced. It’s unreasonable to believe that you can prevent runs like that. To their credit, the group held the opposition without a homer. However, the Phils batted around in the bottom of the eighth (and then some) with a barrage of line drives and well-placed grounders.

You can nitpick the timing of several Don Mattingly decisions, but the players’ execution was so awful, this outcome was unavoidable. A bullpen that entered the game with MLB’s highest Wins Above Replacement for the month of May (according to FanGraphs) regressed in an instant.

Wednesday’s probable starters are Trevor Rogers and Zach Eflin. First pitch scheduled for 7:05 p.m.

Baseball Savant

Fish Picks Answer Key

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