Frustration is building for the injury-depleted Miami Marlins, who are off to an 0-8 start after reaching the playoffs in 2023.
The Marlins will seek a breakthrough victory when their three-game road series with the St. Louis Cardinals resumes on Saturday afternoon at Busch Stadium.
Miami led the Cardinals 5-3 on Thursday before St. Louis rallied with a five-run seventh inning. That comeback began when Marlins second baseman Luis Arraez made a fielding error on Paul Goldschmidt’s grounder.
“We just talk a lot about, ‘What do we do right now?'” Arraez told MLB.com. “We lose a lot of games. Everybody knows that. We are frustrated right now because we want to win, especially me, because when I play, I give my 100 percent every day.
“I make two errors, cause the game to lose. That’s my fault there. I just try to do my best every time, play hard every day. So the good thing (is) we’ve got an off-day (Friday), and then we just need to keep continuing to play hard.”
The Marlins will start left-hander Trevor Rogers (0-0, 7.20 ERA) while trying to get back on the winning track. In his first start of the season, Rogers allowed four runs on seven hits and four walks in five innings as Miami eventually lost 9-7 in 10 innings to the Pittsburgh Pirates.
That was Rogers’ first big league appearance since April 19, 2023. Injuries limited him to just four starts last season.
He is 0-1 with a 2.70 ERA in two career starts against the Cardinals.
The Marlins hope to get injured starting pitchers Edward Cabrera and Braxton Garrett back later this month, but meanwhile they are functioning with a makeshift rotation.
They continue to rotate pitchers through their strained bullpen. Kent Emanuel was designated for assignment when the Marlins selected the contract of Matt Andriese from Triple-A Jacksonville.
The Cardinals are also dealing with injury issues, with starting pitcher Sonny Gray, infielder-outfielder Tommy Edman, infielder Matt Carpenter and outfielders Lars Nootbaar and Dylan Carlson on the injured list.
Catcher Willson Contreras and infielder-outfielder Brendan Donovan sat out Thursday’s game while recovering from hit by pitches the day before in San Diego.
In their absences, catcher Ivan Herrera (homer, RBI single), infielder Nolan Gorman (two-run double), shortstop Masyn Winn (RBI triple) and infielder/outfielder Alec Burleson (RBI single) picked up the offensive slack.
“We’re a good team,” Gorman said. “We have a lot of confidence in every single person in this clubhouse. I mean, it doesn’t really matter who is in the lineup. I don’t think we ever feel like we’re out of a game.”
The Cardinals will give left-hander Steven Matz (0-0, 3.38) his second start Saturday. He had a solid first outing while allowing two runs on five hits and two walks in a 5-4 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers.
“I got (Shohei) Ohtani to strike out on a changeup, got Mookie (Betts) to ground out twice on the changeup,” Matz said. “That’s huge for me — locating that pitch. That’s really the biggest thing. Not trying to make anything better than it is. That’s kind of where you lose your location. Just staying with it and locating it and trusting it.”
Matz is 4-4 with a 3.59 ERA in 13 career outings against the Marlins, including 12 starts.
–Field Level Media