Miami Marlins Shut Out in Philly: Takeaways from a Cold Day

Miami dropped a 5-0 decision to the Phillies in their Thursday afternoon matinee. What went wrong?

Philadelphia Pitching

With 44,488 in attendance at Citizens Bank Park, the home crowd was treated to a nine-strikeout, four-hit performance from starter Jake Pivetta. He lasted 5 2/3 innings and didn’t walk a single member of the Miami Marlins.

It shouldn’t have come as a surprise, considering Pivetta’s lifetime K/9 rate of 9.59. Pivetta’s five-pitch arsenal kept Miami hitters off balance more than twice through the order. Miami leadoff hitter Lewis Brinson proved especially susceptible to Pivetta’s charms, whiffing to the fireballer three times. Brinson also struck out a fourth time, to reliever Luis Garcia.

While the Miami Marlins only touched Pivetta four times, there was no relief to be found against the relief. Miami managed to get shut down by the trio of bullpen dwellers the Phillies trotted out. Adam Morgan, Luis Garcia, and Hector Neris combined for 3 1/3 perfect frames, with a strikeout each.

Miami Pitching

Miami’s starter, #2 rotation pitcher Caleb Smith came out wild, and not effectively wild, just wild. He only surrendered two hits in his three innings of work, but managed to walk six batters. Somehow, he still pitched more strikes than balls, getting 40-of-77 pitches over the plate. His trials yielded three Philadelphia runs. Here’s one of the only good moments of Smith’s start:

Jarlin Garcia showed more of the good stuff that made him one of the heroes of the 17-inning win over the Red Sox. Although not nearly perfect, as he was in the former game, he was solid enough. He kept the Marlins within striking distance by pitching 3 1/3 scoreless relief innings to start. Maikel Franco put an end to that with a two-run shot that effectively put the contest out of Miami’s reach.

More from Marlins News

• Miami Marlins news: Another target gone
• Why didn’t the Miami Marlins sign JDM?
• Miami Marlins rejected Boston‘s trade offer
• Miami Marlins are pursuing Michael Conforto
• Miami Marlins need to spend to win

Miami’s third pitcher, Tayron Guerrero, made his fourth appearance of the season. He dropped his ERA by more than a run, striking out the side and allowing only a walk in his scoreless eighth. He now has eight strikeouts in only 4 1/3 frames thus far.

Defensively, the best play of the night was probably when Bryan Holaday gunned down Cesar Hernandez trying to steal third:

He made the play just moments after Hernandez stole second. Braxton Lee also made things interesting by hustling down the line so fast after an infield grounder that he nearly beat the throw straight up. He did force Phillies second baseman Hernandez to hurry his throw, resulting in a safe call on a Philadelphia error:

Next: Which Marlins Did Good Against The Sox?

It wasn’t pretty, and we ain’t too proud, but the Miami Marlins will live to play another day. Tune in on Saturday, when Dillon Peters makes his start against Vince Velasquez. In the meantime, like us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter, and keep us bookmarked for all of your Marlins news.