Grading the Miami Marlins: Swept in Milwaukee

Drew Steckenrider +.102

Steckenrider has been one of Miami’s most dependable relief pitchers in the early going this season. Going into the Milwaukee series, he had appeared in nine games, and struck out 11 in 8 2/3 innings. He walked two and allowed four hits and zero runs, holding opposing hitters to a .143/.200/.214 slashline with a 0.454 WHIP.

After getting Thursday’s game off, Steckenrider was called on to pitch the sixth inning on Friday. He wasn’t very good, but since the situation was so low-leverage, with the Marlins trailing 6-0, it didn’t count that badly against him. He walked Christian Yelich (-.002), allowed Ryan Braun a single (-.005) and surrendered an RBI-single to Travis Shaw (-.002). After striking out Eric Thames (+.002) and Jonathan Villar (+.001), he gave up another RBI-single, to Orlando Arcia (-.004). He then loaded the bases by hitting Jett Bandy with a pitch (-.000). He closed the inning by inducing a flyout from Jesus Aguilar (+.001).

A quick turnaround would see Steckenrider pitch the seventh inning on Sunday. He was called on to protect a 5-4 lead, and did pretty well. Steck struck out Bandy (+.050) then allowed a single to Hernan Perez (-.054). He got out of the slight jam by getting Lorenzo Cain to ground into a 5-4-3 double play (+.115). The Marlins eventually lost this one in walkoff fashion, 6-5.