MO2 overview: How the Marlins stunned everyone but themselves

MO2 overview: How the Marlins stunned everyone but themselves

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The numbers and objective analysis all had Monday night projected as a rough one for the Marlins. Guess what? It didn’t turn out that way, and MO2 explains why

By Joe Frisaro @ManOn2nd

So you think you’ve got baseball all figured out, right? Guess again.

Those who tuned in to Bally Sports Florida on Monday night witnessed why you don’t get ahead of yourself on any Major League Baseball night.

The Miami Marlins at the Milwaukee Brewers on Monday came billed as the best pitching matchup of the night. It lived up to that, at least early, but the starter who came out on the better end wasn’t who many might have thought.

Left-hander Trevor Rogers was matched against probable Cy Young Award candidate Corbin Burnes.

The night belonged to the rookie and the Marlins, who pounded out a 8-0 win over the Brewers.

Both starters did their part, racking up high strikeout totals. But in the sixth inning, the pitcher’s duel became one-sided. The Marlins pushed across four-runs off Burnes, who didn’t record an out in the frame before being lifted.

Rogers, meanwhile, threw six shutout innings, with seven strikeouts and no walks. The left-handers’ latest gem lowered his ERA to 1.29 on the season.

It was Burnes, who had his ERA rise to 1.84 after five-plus innings, eight hits, five runs, nine strikeouts and no walks. Remarkably, Burnes hasn’t walked a batter all season.

We’ll get deeper into the pitching matchup in a minute.

First, MO2 offers its three takeaways:

Rebounding on the road: How the Marlins rebounded after dropping three of four at San Francisco was impressive, especially considering who they beat and where. Miami went from losing a one-run game on a rainy day on Sunday on the West Coast to facing the Brewers, who already had been home.

The Marlins, for all their frustrations to start off this three-city, 10-game road swing, are now 2-3 at their halfway point of their trip.

This is the big picture.

The Marlins are hanging tough with a depleted roster. Starling Marte (rib), Brian Anderson (oblique) and Jorge Alfaro (hamstring) are on the injured list.

Finding a way to beat one of the best pitchers in the sport on the road speaks to the resiliency of the club. Granted, it’s one game, but it’s another sign that the Marlins have the type of starting pitching to avoid long losing streaks.

Trevor Time: The 13th overall pick in the 2017 MLB Draft, Rogers has now beaten two early NL Cy Young Award contenders on the road. Reminder, on April 10, the lefty threw six shutout innings and the Marlins beat the Mets and Jacob deGrom.

Now, facing Burnes in the series opener at a hitter-friendly park on Milwaukee, Rogers logs six more shutout innings. Yes, the Brewers are minus Christian Yelich, but this offense still is capable of doing damage. Rogers shut them down.

The strikeouts, lack of hard hit contact, and pitch velocity that Rogers has shown has all been impressive. But more than those numbers, to MO2, the key stat for Rogers recently is innings pitched. With six more in the books, he’s now at 28 on the season.

He’s showing he can work deeper into games, which is huge. In his last start, Rogers went a career-high seven innings in a win at home over the Orioles. In his last two games, Rogers has thrown 13 scoreless innings with 15 strikeouts, one walk and 10 hits.

The Marlins need innings from a depleted rotation, and Rogers is showing signs of providing them.

Corey Dickerson stepping up: Left fielder Corey Dickerson quietly goes about his business. Make no mistake, he’s a consummate pro, and he is stepping up at a time the Marlins need a spark with Marte on the IL.

Dickerson homered, doubled and singled on Monday night, raising his batting average to .324 with an .826 OPS.

Dickerson now has three straight multi-hit games, and is 7-for-12 in that stretch.

The veteran opened the scoring on Monday with his RBI double to left off Burnes, which scored Jesus Aguilar from first. In the sixth inning, he added an RBI single to break the game open, and in the eighth inning, he homered to center. The blast was projected at 432 feet.

Even Dickerson’s last at-bat, with two outs in the ninth inning, he was a tough out. After Garrett Cooper’s homer made it an eight-run lead, Dickerson grinded out a 12-pitch at-bat. He was called out on strike three on a pitch that was outside of the zone, per Game Day.

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