What a Difference a Day Makes: Three Lessons for Miami Marlins Over Rockies

The Miami Marlins nearly quadrupled their seasonal hit total in their first team victory on Saturday night.

With 7,642 in attendance at Marlins Park on Saturday night, Miami Marlins starting pitcher Pablo López threw the first pitch of the game to Rockies leadoff hitter Charlie Blackmon at 6:10 P.M. EST.

Blackmon grounded out to first baseman Martín Prado on a 1-2 pitch, and López worked a 1-2-3 inning.

Exactly three hours later, Marlins reliever Drew Steckenrider struck out Raimel Tapia to close the deal and earn Miami their first victory of the season. Here’s a few things we learned.

López Continues Excellent Starting Pitching

The Miami Marlins are not expected to have a good season. The starting pitching is expected to be one of few bright spots for the rebuilding franchise in the interim seasons while returning to relevance.

After Trevor Richards struck out four and earned a quality start in yesterday’s 6-1 loss to the Rockies, López answered with a gem of his own.

Although López didn’t finish with a “Quality Start,” he did earn the Marlins first win of the season. López lasted 5 1/3 innings, and allowed three earned runs on five hits. He struck out seven, and as usual, walked zero batters.

López placed 62-of-88 pitches in the strike zone before getting lifted by Marlins manager Don Mattingly with a runner on first and one out in the sixth inning.

Miami Marlins Bullpen Shines

Tyler Kinley relieved López and allowed the inherited runner to score on two hits, although Kinley was not charged with the run. After he allowed a pair of singles, the Rockies only managed one more hit over the final three innings.

Adam Conley gave up a hit over his 2/3 of an inning, and Sergio Romo completed that inning. Nick Anderson followed in the eighth by striking out the side. It wasn’t an immaculate inning by any means, but Anderson got 14-of-20 pitches in the zone over a perfect frame. Drew Steckenrider worked a perfect ninth in a non-save situation to shut the door on Colorado.

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No Home Runs

After their first two games, the Miami Marlins had collected a grand total of six base hits, to include four solo home runs as well as a total of four runs scored. Today, they added 16 hits to their total for the year, led by three-hit games for Miguel Rojas and Martín Prado.

Rosell Herrera, Lewis Brinson, and Chad Wallach also had multi-hit games for the Marlins. Brian Anderson, Starlin Castro, Curtis Granderson, and López closed the hit parade with a hit each.

The Marlins aim for a split in the series finale tomorrow at Marlins Park, with Sandy Alcanatara taking the hill. Like us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter, and subscribe to our daily newsletter to keep up with the Miami Marlins.