Jeff Brigham and Marlins Cannot Solve Reds at Home

It the same old song when it comes to the Marlins young rookie pitchers. Progress is made on the bump, but the team cannot find a way to win. This time, it’s Jeff Brigham who cannot put together enough of a stat sheet to earn a victory.

The Miami Marlins got a solid outing from pitcher Jeff Brigham, but once again it was not enough as the team fell 4-2 to the Cincinnati Reds on Thursday night. The rookie had a career-high six strikeouts in the loss, however, Miami fell to 59-93 on the season.

Brigham is another young arm trying to make a lasting impression on the organization as the number of games continues to fade in the 2018 MLB season. This was by far the best outing the 26-year-old righty has had this month since being brought up to the Major League level with the roster expansion.

"“In the first inning on Thursday night, Brigham flashed why he has a chance to land in the rotation,” Joe Frisaro of MLB.com wrote. “He struck out two in a clean inning, with his fastball reaching 95 mph.”"

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With Brigham knocking on the door to earn a spot on the 25-man roster, the decision of who stays and who goes on this pitching staff becomes tougher for manager Don Mattingly. There are plenty of young arms and right now, not enough innings to see more consistency out of them.

While Brigham showed better command on the mound, he still had an issue giving up walks that proved to be the difference on the night. He lost some control of his pitches when he walked two Reds batters in the third inning. Both of them scored. It has been an issue most of the season with Marlins young pitchers. The ability to remain consistent through multiple innings and strand runners on base has been an Achilles heel.

"“I think for him, he’s got the pitches,” Marlins manager Don Mattingly said of Brigham. “It’s a matter, obviously, that you still have got to command. We’ve seen, when he’s throwing strikes and is able to use his pitches, he’s getting the ball to both sides of the plate. He’s got a good breaking ball. Threw a few changeups. It’s a matter of having the weapons, but then you’ve got to get consistent with location, and using your mix.”"

The ability to use a mixed bag of pitches in his arsenal will help Brigham as the team heads to Spring Training in Jupiter in February. By then, all arms that have been on the disabled list (Pablo Lopez, Caleb Smith, and Dan Straily) will become part of one of the bigger stories of the start of the Marlins 2019 season.

Brigham told the media he knew the start of the game was better than the end. He continues to get better but needs to be more consistent. This is one of those outings he can learn from.

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"“I came out firing strong,” Brigham said. “But I kind of lost a little bit of focus, came out of my mechanics and stretch. I kind of lost the ball up and away a lot, and had to regain focus to get back out of the fourth and fifth innings.”"

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