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Miami Marlins Morning Catch: Rays take rubber match in Miami

By Travis Honeycutt

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Good morning, Marlin Maniac readers and welcome to Morning Catch, the daily morning news and notes column from MarlinManiac.com.

5. 82. 8. 21. Final

The Miami Marlins capped off their awful first week of the 2015 season with an 8-5 defeat at the hands of the Tampa Bay Rays in Sunday’s rubber match.

They actually scored a few runs in the Citrus Series finale: for just the second time this year, the Marlins (1-5) put five runs on the board. The problem is they couldn’t keep the Rays’ (3-3) bats at bay.

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Henderson Alvarez, in his second start of the year, was less than impressive, allowing four runs on seven hits in five innings while striking out just three and walking one. David DeJesus‘s three-run home run in the fifth was the biggest dagger on the afternoon. That swing broke a 1-1 tie, up to which point Alvarez had looked sharp.

Ichiro Suzuki plated the Marlins first run of the game on a sacrifice fly in the fourth.

The Marlins’ bullpen couldn’t keep them in the game after Alvarez’s early exit. Brad Hand gave the team three innings of relief, but surrendered three runs on six hits.

Nate Karns was splendid on the mound for the Rays. He largely shut down the Marlins lineup, giving up just two runs (one earned) and two hits over his seven frames. The righty whiffed six and walked two.

Michael Morse provided an RBI double, and Dee Gordon an RBI triple, after the Marlins were already well behind the 8-ball. It was nice to see the bats finally come alive somewhat, but it’s still hard to get excited about it in a losing effort. Miami finally hit its first home run of the season when Jarrod Saltalamacchia, who didn’t even start the game, deposited one over the right center field wall in the ninth. But it was too little, too late at that point.

The Rays tallied 14 hits in the contest, to the Marlins’ eight.

The Marlins are expected to place Jeff Mathis and Don Kelly on the disabled list, after both oddly enough broke the same finger on the same hand. Both are below replacement level players and easily replaceable.

Today the Marlins embark on their first road trip of the season. After performing so poorly at home this week, maybe a road trip will be just what the doctor ordered. The Marlins historically haven’t played well against the Atlanta Braves, and tonight the division foes begin a three-game set at Turner Field. The rebuilding Braves are off to a surprising 5-1 start, and the Marlins are playing far below their potential. So something has to give when the Fish hit the road for the first time in 2015.

Marlins News from Around the Web:

Miami Marlins: What we learned in the season’s first week

Michael Sonbeek, Marlin Maniac

The Miami Marlins have wrapped up the first week of their season. One word you can use to describe this week is “awful,” because that’s exactly what it was.

The Marlins started off 2015 by getting swept by the Atlanta Braves, a team in all-out rebuild mode. They followed that series by dropping two of three games to the Tampa Bay Rays in Miami. All told, the Marlins posted a 1-5 record in their opening homestand.

In this first week there is really nothing positive that stands out for the Marlins: the offense has been bad and the bullpen has been dreadful. Obviously the Marlins are only six games into the 2015 campaign so this is a small sample size and it’s not smart to judge a team from just six games, but we have learned some things about this team in the first week: Click here for full article.

Marlins’ opening home stand comes to merciful end

Matt Porter, Palm Beach Post

MIAMI — When the Marlins return home later this month, they can only hope they will look like a team deserving of all that preseason hype.

Playoff sleeper? Miami looked mostly asleep during its season-opening homestand, which ended Sunday afternoon with an 8-5 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays — and some concerning reports regarding injuries.

Miami (1-5) showed little life at the plate until the final two innings, when Michael Morse’s two-run double (eighth), plus a Jarrod Saltalamacchia homer and a Dee Gordon double (ninth) turned the spate of irritated boos from the home crowd into cheers. Click here for full article.

Marlins’ Ozuna Benched After Being Late For Batting Practice

CBS Miami

MIAMI (AP) — Miami Marlins center fielder Marcell Ozuna was benched Sunday as punishment for being late to batting practice, and he apologized.

Ozuna said he didn’t realize the pregame workout was earlier than usual.

“It was my fault,” he said. “I say sorry, and it’s not going to happen again.” Click here for full article.

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