Lewin Díaz continues to take advantage of his limited time in the majors. He had a multi-HR night in Tuesday’s loss to the Washington Nationals and accounted for Miami’s only two runs. He has been called up and down sporadically throughout 2021, and this latest stint has been one of his more successful ones.
Diaz, the third-ranked first baseman prospect baseball and the No. 11 overall prospect in the Marlins’ system according to MLB Pipeline, was called up from Triple-A Jacksonville when Jesús Aguilar went on the 10-day injured list with left knee inflammation.
In 74 games at Triple-A this year, he has hit 20 home runs with an OPS of .845.
Although his basic stats at the MLB level may not jump out, he is slugging .625—15 total bases in 24 at-bats—after his performance on Tuesday.
“Anytime you see a game like this, it shows you what he can be,” Marlins manager Don Mattingly said. “If you’re really talking about winning, then you have to be able to do that consistently. And that goes for all our guys.”
Nationals starting pitcher Erick Fedde had retired 11 consecutive Marlins batters before Diaz’s home run in the fifth inning.
In his last five starts against Miami dating back to 2019, Fedde has allowed two runs in 28 ⅓ IP. His overall ERA since 2019 is 4.84.
Marlins starting pitcher Jesus Luzardo had an outing similar to his last few. He allowed four earned runs in 4 ⅓ IP, with two of those runs coming in his final inning of work. But there were some positives from his outing on Tuesday, aside from an intentional walk to Juan Soto in the fifth inning, he allowed just one other walk. He has averaged three walks per game since he was traded to Miami.
“Obviously, not how I wanted it to go,” Luzardo said.” “Kind of frustrating at times. I can’t be mad at a couple of broken bat RBI hits from Alcides (Escobar) and (Juan) Soto. Obviously the home run (by Soto) was something I didn’t want to see.”
Down 4-2 in the bottom of the eighth, it seems that Miami could possible mount a comeback effort in the following inning if they could take care of the Nats in the eighth. Marlins reliever Sean Guenther allowed three consecutive singles to start the inning, followed by a walk when Taylor Williams came in to replace him on the mound. The Marlins finally recorded an out after allowing two runs, but it was a sac fly by Escobar to score yet another run. By the end of the inning, the Fish had found themselves in an insurmountable 8-2 deficit, and went down in order in the ninth.
Trevor Rogers will take the mound on Wednesday to start the series finale at 1:05 p.m. Josh Rogers will pitch for the Nationals. It’ll be the first-ever Rogers vs. Rogers MLB starting pitching matchup, per the Bally Sports Florida broadcast.
- Erick Fedde
- Under
- Over
- No
- Nationals