MIA 3, PHI 1; Rogers Quiets Phils’ Bats

Death, taxes, and superb outings from Trevor Rogers.

With recent memory that has been personified by uncertainty, these three have been utter guarantees.

A night after the normally great Marlins’ bullpen blew a late 3-1 lead, Don Mattingly and co. turned to Rogers, the consensus best pitcher for the team thus far in 2021, to get them back in the win column.

For the Marlins rookie left-hander—who entered play with a 1.84 ERA (220 ERA+) through his first 8 starts—anything close to what he had already done thus far would be enough assurance to justify Rogers’ ascendence to one of the more exciting young pitchers in the sport.

Rogers would go above-and-beyond Wednesday night, pitching a career-best 7 ²⁄₃ innings, striking out 8 and walking 2. Other than the two free passes, Rogers’ only real mistake came on an Andrew McCutchen solo home run—the 250th of his career—in the bottom of the 6th.

Lowering his season ERA to 1.74, 5th in the Majors among qualified pitchers, Rogers has now struck out 65 in 51.2 innings pitched (12.6 K/9). Through 16 career starts, the lefty has now struck out 104 hitters, a mark which ranks 5th all-time among left-handed starters in the live-ball era.

With McCutchen set to hit and with Rogers at 98 pitches, manager Don Mattingly called upon closer Yimi García in what would wind up being a four-out save, the fourth such time the former Dodger has gone more than 1 inning since joining the Marlins. McCutchen would hit a sharp line drive that registered 100.3 mph (.600 xBA) off the bat, only to be caught by a diving Miguel Rojas to end the inning.

García would strike out 2 while scattering 2 hits in giving Miami their 19th win of the season. In 32.2 innings since joining the club last season, García owns a 1.11 ERA, tops among pitchers with at least 30 innings pitched since the start of 2020.

Lost in the shuffle of Miami’s continued excellence on the rubber was that of Brian Anderson, who, on his 28th birthday, hit an opposite field home run to give Miami an early 1-0 lead in the first.

Anderson’s home run was the 10th such occurrence of a Marlins’ player homering on their birthday, becoming the first to do so since Adeiny Hechavarria in 2015. The home run also gave the Marlins third baseman an extra base hit in his third consecutive game.

Miami would add on insurance thanks to an RBI-single by Adam Duvall in the 6th - his 27th RBI of the season - and a bases loaded RBI-knock off the bat of recently-returned Jazz Chisholm, giving the team a 3-1 lead Rogers and García would hold onto.

The Fish will look to pick up a series win tomorrow when they hand the ball to Sandy Alcantara, himself looking to rebound from a career-worst 8 runs allowed in his last outing against the Dodgers. Philadelphia will counter with swingman Vince Velasquez with game time set for 7:05 Eastern.

Baseball-Savant

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