Miami Marlins Drop 14-Inning Heartbreaker, Series to Phils

Miami Marlins pitching held the Phillies scoreless through 13 innings before Wei-Yin Chen entered in the 14th.

José Ureña turned in his best performance of the season, and six Miami Marlins relievers held Philadelphia scoreless over as many innings prior to the 14th (more on that below). Wei-Yin Chen struck out Aaron Altherr before surrendering a triple to Andrew McCutchen and a home run to Jean Segura. Chen got Bryce Harper to line out and Rhys Hoskins to get caught looking, but the damage was already done. Chen’s ERA actually came down after surrendering the two runs in the inning of work, from 24.75 to 23.40.

Here’s a few other things from the loss.

Anderson Firing on All Cylinders

Brian Anderson had the only Miami Marlins run of the day, on a sixth-inning solo home run into center field.

Anderson also stole a base for the second time in two games, after stealing only two bags all of last season. He was excellent on both sides of the ball, providing solid defense from the hot corner.

For the season, Anderson is hitting .228 with a pair of homers and three RBI.

Miami Marlins Bullpen Firing on Most Cylinders

Aside from Wei-Yin Chen’s shortcomings, the Marlins bullpen came through in spades. Drew Steckenrider pitched a perfect eighth, with one strikeout. Sergio Romo allowed three baserunners in the ninth, on a pair of hits and a walk, but kept the Phillies scoreless. Tayron Guerrero continued his scoreless season, allowing a walk but no hits or runs in the 10th.

Tyler Kinley pitched in his eighth game, and got his ERA to drop below one with 1 2/3 scoreless innings. He walked two and struck out one. After Adam Conley retired the only batter he faced to close the 12th, Nick Anderson struck out two over a scoreless 13th. That set the table for Chen.

Ureña Starting to Warm Up

José Ureña’s first three starts of the season have produced three of the lowest four GameScores of the season for the Miami Marlins. In his fourth start today, he struck out seven over as many innings, earning a Quality Start by giving up seven hits and no walks for just one run, a solo shot by Cesar Hernandez in the fourth inning.

On the second day of Spring Training, Ureña was informed that he was the opening day starter, and anointed “ace” of the staff. The real world didn’t play out that way, but Ureña has ever been a slow starter. Today’s GameScore of 66 was the second best of his five-season MLB career for March/April.

Wei-Yin Chen

Wei-Yin Chen’s 23.40 ERA after this contest, now over five innings of work, is the highest of any Miami Marlins pitcher with over three qualified innings in a season. Only Frankie De La Cruz comes close, with 18 runs surrendered in nine innings back in 2008. After that bonifide train-wreck, De La Cruz eventually resurfaced to play at the major league level with the San Diego Padres and the Milwaukee Brewers.

As for Chen, we can only hope the Miami Marlins management comes to their senses and designate him for assignment. He has at no time this season shown that he has anything resembling major league caliber pitching. Could it get better? I mean, maybe…it couldn’t get very much worse, right?

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