MIAMI — Don Mattingly made it clear that the Miami Marlins sending Braxton Garrett to the minor leagues on Sept. 13 had nothing to do with his performance. The 25-year-old left-handed starting pitcher had been crafting a breakout season as he filled in a spot in the Marlins’ rotation.
But with the rotation returning to full strength, Miami found itself with six starting for five spots. Garrett became the odd man out.
His time back in the minor leagues lasted one start. With Trevor Rogers sidelined the final two weeks of the season with a Grade 1 left lat strain, Garrett found himself back with the Marlins on Friday as they opened a three-game series with the Washington Nationals.
All Garrett did was throw six innings of one-run ball en route to a 5-2 Marlins win at loanDepot park. Miami improves to 62-89 on the season. Washington falls to 52-98.
Garrett’s lone mistake came with the first batter of the game. Lane Thomas lifted a 91.6-mph four-seam fastball for a solo home run to left field to give the Nationals an early 1-0 lead.
After that, it was all Garrett.
He struck out each of the next three batters he faced to close out the first inning, only allowed two runners to get into scoring position the rest of the night and retired the final seven batters he faced. Of his 80 pitches, 62 landed for strikes.
After posting a 5.18 ERA over his first 10 MLB appearances (24 earned runs in 41 2/3 innings), Garrett has pitched to a 3.52 ERA in 15 starts this season (31 earned runs in 79 1/3 innings). Friday was Garrett’s fifth start in 2022 in which he pitched at least six innings and the second time this season he did not issue a walk.
The Marlins tied the game with a Garrett Cooper double in the first that scored Jon Berti, who led off with a double. They took the lead for good with a three-run sixth inning on a Bryan De La Cruz bases-loaded hit-by-pitch, Charles Leblanc RBI single and Miguel Rojas double play that also brought in a run. JJ Bleday capped scoring with a sacrifice fly in the seventh.
This and that
— Berti’s stolen base in the third inning was his MLB-leading 37th of the season.
— Richard Bleier (one inning, one run allowed), Huascar Brazoban (one inning) and Dylan Floro (one inning) pitched the final three innings for the Marlins. Floro recorded his sixth save of the season.
— Leblanc recorded his 12th multi-hit outing in 40 games for the Marlins since making his MLB debut.
— The Marlins placed infielder Joey Wendle on the 10-day injured list with left hamstring tendinitis. Wendle and Mattingly both said the move is precautionary, with the anticipation that Wendle will be activated for the final week of the season. With the IL move retroactive to Monday, the earliest Wendle can be activated is Thursday, when Miami begins a four-game road series with the Milwaukee Brewers.
Up next
Sandy Alcantara (13-8, 2.37 ERA) will face the Nationals for the fifth time this season. The Marlins ace has a 0.84 ERA through his first four starts against the Nationals this season, including a complete game his last time against them on Sunday.
Erick Fedde (6-10, 5.29 ERA) will be on the mound for Washington.
