Miami Marlins New Manager Loses Debut

By Sean Millerick | May 19, 2015

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New Manager, Old Result For Marlins; Ichiro Ties The Babe

The Miami Marlins found themselves breaking in a new manager Monday night, largely due to the multiple losses credited to former closer Steve Cishek.

So with two new coaches in the dugout and their most reliable starter on the mound…Steve Cishek surrendered a run in the 13th inning, and the Marlins lost to the Arizona Diamondbacks 3-2.

Dan Haren delivered one of his strongest outings of the season with eight innings of two-run ball, matching Arizona’s Rubby De La Rosa almost pitch for pitch; Haren allowed one less hit while De La Rosa pitched a full nine frames. Clearly feeling that Sunday’s fans were cheated out of dramatic tension, the Marlins provided some bonus baseball to the home crowd Monday.

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Ironically enough, the game itself was only three hours and eleven minutes- meaning it came in right around last season’s pace of play average despite the fact four additional innings were played.

The story of the night though was Dan Jennings of course, skippering his first game in lieu of recently fired former manager Mike Redmond. Despite a crowd far below the announced gate, there was a definite buzz in the air, as all eyes were on Jennings.

Owner Jeffrey Loria and team president David Samson were both on deck in the owners box, necks craning left most of the game to take in their latest leader: Jennings is the ninth manager since Jeff Torborg was fired in 2003.

Miami and Arizona punched and counterpunched all night in a contest that remained scoreless until the fourth inning.

After Dee Gordon turned in the first of multiple Web Gem caliber plays, snagging a scorching liner from Paul Goldschmidt, a bang-bang call at second base went the Diamondbacks way, giving them runners at first and second with one out. Yasmany Tomas proceeded to crush a double to deep left, scoring Goldschmidt and Ender Inciarte for a 2-0 lead.

After another 2 2/3 innings of near perfect pitching by Haren and De La Rosa, the Marlins broke through in the bottom of the seventh for some runs on the strength of catcher J.T. Realmuto‘s first career home run.

The two-run shot was also the last hit of the contest in regulation, with only a single hit coming before the twelfth inning. Needless to say, pitching was the dominant force in the game, as only two players total recorded more than a single hit: Yasmany Tomas and Ichiro Suzuki.

Ichiro it should be noted, on the strength of his 2 for 4 showing at the plate, entered a tie for 42nd all-time in career hits…with Babe Ruth. Ichiro got the start in center over Marcell Ozuna, who missed the game due to personal reasons; the future Hall of Famer also welcomed Dan Jennings to the trenches by personally presenting him with a tie, in reference to his previous position of general manager.

Unfortunately, Ichiro would feature prominently in the way the game ended as well. After having reached base for the third time on the night thanks a walk off Enrique Burgos in the bottom of the 13th, Suzuki appeared to successfully steal second base. However, Arizona challenged the play, and he was ruled out at second. Suddenly faced with two outs and no one on, Jeff Baker struck out to send the Marlins to their seventh loss in their last eight games.

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