MIA 2, WAS 2: Tie to Say Goodbye

The Marlins (7-16-2) bid adeu to Jupiter Sunday in a 2-2 tie with their divisional rival Washington Nationals. The game was played at a brisk 2 hour and 6 minute pace.

In his final tune-up before the regular season, Jesùs Luzardo, slated to throw approximately 85 pitches, gave the Marlins 5 innings, allowing 2 earned runs (all in the first inning), walking 2, and striking out 4. After allowing the first two men to reach via walk and double, Luzardo would go on to retire 11 consecutive Nationals hitters.

“After the first two batters, I feel like I locked it in...Everything felt like we were progressing every outing (this spring),” said Luzardo.

Washington’s Josiah Gray proved sharp in his final preseason outing as well, limiting Miami to one unearned run over 4 innings. For Gray, who posted the all-time worst HR9 (2.3) among pitchers with at least 140 IP last season, he wraps up the Grapefruit League with a microscopic 0.55 ERA.

It was encouraging day on the pitching side for Miami, with the bullpen picking up Luzardo with 4 scoreless frames of their own. Offensively, however, the results continue to be reminiscent of last season.

After hitting .455 over his first four spring contests, Avisaíl García showed more of what he was in his underwhelming 2022 debut with the club. He finished Grapefruit league play 2-for-his-last-38 (.053) over his last 13 games played. In Sunday’s game, García would go 0-for-3 with 2 strikeouts.

Catcher Jacob Stallings and left fielder Jorge Soler, both of whom expect to see regular playing time during the regular season, finished with batting average of .167 and .205, respectively.

Looking Ahead

After the 4:10 p.m. split-squad against the Mets in Port St. Lucie that’s still being played as of this writing, the Marlins will have an intrasquad scrimmage at LoanDepot Park beginning 4:00 p.m. on Monday.

Miami will open their regular season at home Thursday when they send reigning NL Cy Young award winner Sandy Alcantara to the mound to face future Hall of Famer Max Scherzer.

Of Note

• Marlins GM Kim Ng told media today that Yuli Gurriel will be with the club come Opening Day. Ng also confirmed that veteran INF Jose Iglesias would remain with the organization, likely opening the year in AAA.
• Success in silence: Victor Mesa Jr., who entered in place of Garrett Cooper, wrapped up a nice spring, hitting .455 in 12 plate appearances, including 2 hits and a game-tying RBI in the contest.
• Center field Jazz Chisholm Jr. was held out for a second straight day with lingering right arm soreness. Manager Skip Schumaker confirmed the move was merely precautionary and that Chisholm should be ready for the team’s Thursday opener against the Mets.

Baseball-Savant