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Marlins beat 9/26
Marlins pitchers set club shutout record
MILWAUKEE — Their team ERA may be just in the middle of the pack in the National League, but Marlins pitchers are among the league’s best in at least one category.
With their 4-0 victory Saturday night, the Marlins notched their 16th shutout of the season, which ties them with the Giants and Dodgers for fourth in the NL, behind the Mets, Padres and Phillies, each of whom has recorded 19 shutouts in 2010.
More impressively, the Marlins established a new franchise record with the 16 shutouts.
Of the 16 games in which the Marlins held opponents scoreless, Josh Johnson recorded the most wins with five. Anibal Sanchez pitched as a part of four shutouts, though he only got the win three times.
Right-hander Chris Volstad has been the starter in each of the last two shutouts, including his five-hit shutout performance against the Cardinals on Monday.
“I have to say that something clicked for him,” manager Edwin Rodriguez said after Saturday’s 4-0 victory. “It could be his release point. It could be his confidence in pitches. It could be something, because pretty much he has the same stuff.
“Something is working for him.”
Florida pitchers have recorded nine shutouts since the All-Star break after posting seven through the first half of the season. Their July total was five shutouts, the most of any month. The Marlins also had four shutouts in August.
Before Volstad’s shutout Saturday night, the Marlins shared the top spot in franchise history with the 2005 club.
Hanley, Bonifacio still recovering from injuries
MILWAUKEE — Little changed with the Marlins from the beginning to the end of their four-game series with the Brewers at Miller Park. In fact, with a win on Sunday, they can assure themselves of leaving the way they came in, with a winning record.
On the injury front, things remain mostly the same as well.
After sitting out four straight games with a hamstring injury, Emilio Bonifacio pinch-hit and played shortstop Friday, but remained out of the lineup Saturday and Sunday.
Shortstop Hanley Ramirez also remained out with a left elbow injury Sunday, marking the fifth straight game out of the lineup for Ramirez and ninth in the Marlins’ past 10 games. When asked if he had any update on Ramirez before Sunday’s game, manager Edwin Rodriguez admitted he did not.
With both Ramirez and Bonifacio still out of the starting lineup, rookie Ozzie Martinez got his fifth consecutive start and sixth overall. In five starts before Sunday, Martinez was batting .263/.364/.368 with two RBIs, two doubles and three walks.
Worth noting
With his 21st home run of the season Saturday night, Mike Stanton retook the rookie home run lead, while also making a little history. Stanton’s 21 home runs are the most by any rookie who made his big league debut in June or later since Kevin Maas hit 21 for the Yankees in 1990. Maas debuted on June 29 of that season. … With four road games remaining and a 39-38 record, the Marlins could become only the third team in franchise history to finish the season with a record of .500 or better on the road. The 2009 club posted a Marlins-record 44 road wins, while the ’04 club went 41-41. … With one more RBI, second baseman Dan Uggla would become the 11th player in Marlins history to record 100 RBIs in a single season.
Jordan Schelling is an associate reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
MILWAUKEE — Their team ERA may be just in the middle of the pack in the National League, but Marlins pitchers are among the league’s best in at least one category.With their 4-0 victory Saturday night, the Marlins notched their 16th shutout of the season, which ties them with the Giants and Dodgers for fourth in the NL, behind the Mets, Padres and Phillies, each of whom has recorded 19 shutouts in 2010.More impressively, the Marlins established a new franchise record with the 16 shutouts.Of the 16 games in which the Marlins held opponents scoreless, Josh Johnson recorded the most wins with five. Anibal Sanchez pitched as a part of four shutouts, though he only got the win three times.Right-hander Chris Volstad has been the starter in each of the last two shutouts, including his five-hit shutout performance against the Cardinals on Monday.”I have to say that something clicked for him,” manager Edwin Rodriguez said after Saturday’s 4-0 victory. “It could be his release point. It could be his confidence in pitches. It could be something, because pretty much he has the same stuff.”Something is working for him.”Florida pitchers have recorded nine shutouts since the All-Star break after posting seven through the first half of the season. Their July total was five shutouts, the most of any month. The Marlins also had four shutouts in August.Before Volstad’s shutout Saturday night, the Marlins shared the top spot in franchise history with the 2005 club.Hanley, Bonifacio still recovering from injuriesMILWAUKEE — Little changed with the Marlins from the beginning to the end of their four-game series with the Brewers at Miller Park. In fact, with a win on Sunday, they can assure themselves of leaving the way they came in, with a winning record.On the injury front, things remain mostly the same as well.After sitting out four straight games with a hamstring injury, Emilio Bonifacio pinch-hit and played shortstop Friday, but remained out of the lineup Saturday and Sunday.Shortstop Hanley Ramirez also remained out with a left elbow injury Sunday, marking the fifth straight game out of the lineup for Ramirez and ninth in the Marlins’ past 10 games. When asked if he had any update on Ramirez before Sunday’s game, manager Edwin Rodriguez admitted he did not.With both Ramirez and Bonifacio still out of the starting lineup, rookie Ozzie Martinez got his fifth consecutive start and sixth overall. In five starts before Sunday, Martinez was batting .263/.364/.368 with two RBIs, two doubles and three walks.Worth notingWith his 21st home run of the season Saturday night, Mike Stanton retook the rookie home run lead, while also making a little history. Stanton’s 21 home runs are the most by any rookie who made his big league debut in June or later since Kevin Maas hit 21 for the Yankees in 1990. Maas debuted on June 29 of that season. … With four road games remaining and a 39-38 record, the Marlins could become only the third team in franchise history to finish the season with a record of .500 or better on the road. The 2009 club posted a Marlins-record 44 road wins, while the ’04 club went 41-41. … With one more RBI, second baseman Dan Uggla would become the 11th player in Marlins history to record 100 RBIs in a single season.Jordan Schelling is an associate reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
Brewers seal losing record at home in shutout
MILWAUKEE — When their home record sat at 4-14 in mid-May, third baseman Casey McGehee told reporters the Brewers would get back to .500, even if it took until September.
It came down to the 80th game of the season at Miller Park, but they ultimately came up short. With a 4-0 loss to the Marlins on Saturday, the Brewers guaranteed a second consecutive losing record at home, dropping to 39-41 on the season in Milwaukee.
“I think my point in saying that before was that we weren’t just going to roll over on it, and just say, ‘Oh, well we struggle at home,'” McGehee said. “We were going to keep battling. From where we started to where we are now, we made up some pretty good ground as far as our record here I think.
“It’s a great place to play, and we didn’t do the best job of taking advantage of it at times. I think the whole thing is just a little bit disappointing overall when you look at the overall results, whether it be at home or on the road. We’ve got our work cut out for us, that’s for sure, for next year.”
With all the offense they put up over the last three days, the Brewers probably would have liked to have saved a couple runs for Saturday night.
After scoring 27 runs over the course of three straight wins, the Brewers couldn’t figure out Marlins right-hander Chris Volstad.
Any remaining doubts as to what side of .500 the Brewers would finish on overall were put to rest Saturday as well. With the loss, they dropped to 72-82 overall, guaranteeing they would finish with their second consecutive losing record.
The biggest reason behind the Brewers’ poor home and overall records could be attributed to their inconsistency, especially offensively. Fittingly, this week has provided an excellent example of such inconsistency.
Despite being among the league’s top run-scoring clubs — as evidenced in their 13-1 win over the Reds on Wednesday — the Brewers are among the leaders in being shut out as well. Saturday marked the 14th time this season Milwaukee was held scoreless.
“I think that’s going to happen when you have offenses like this,” McGehee said. “We’re kind of built on hitting the ball out of the park. We can do other things, but that’s how we’re built really, and you’re going to run into stretches where you’re not hitting the ball out or you run into tough pitching. It’s tough to sustain a barrage of power over any time.”
Volstad (11-9) tossed 6 2/3 scoreless innings, scattering six hits while striking out two batters with no walks. Of those six hits off Volstad, none were for extra bases, which limited the Brewers’ ability to put together any sort of big inning.
Volstad’s success came on the heels of a five-hit shutout in his previous outing, a 4-0 Marlins victory over the Cardinals.
“I definitely tried to bring the last game into this game as much as I could,” Volstad said. “The pace I was working at helped me get momentum. I was getting the ball, getting the sign and making the pitch with not a lot of time to get myself out of whack.”
The Brewers’ biggest opportunity came in the eighth inning, when they loaded the bases with two out on three singles in a four-batter span. Reliever Jose Veras entered to face catcher George Kottaras, who ripped a liner to center field.
Unfortunately for the Brewers, it was hit right at center fielder Cameron Maybin, who secured the final out of the inning.
“You go up there and put a good swing on the ball,” Kottaras said. “That’s what I did. … He made a good play on it.”
Left-handed starter Chris Narveson delivered his fourth quality start in five chances this month, tossing 6 2/3 innings while giving up two runs on six hits with one walk and five strikeouts.
For Narveson, three hits — two first-inning singles and a seventh-inning homer — ruined what was otherwise an impressive outing.
“I felt pretty good,” Narveson said. “I know it’s toward the end of the season, but for me it actually felt pretty good. At times, I was a little erratic, but for the most part … when I missed with a pitch, I was able to make the adjustment.”
Narveson dropped to 11-9 on the season, despite posting his 11th quality start. Over his past 12 starts, Narveson has posted a 4-3 record with a 4.12 ERA, allowing 34 earned runs in 74 2/3 innings of work. In 14 previous starts, Narveson was 6-6 with a 5.87 ERA, giving up 50 earned runs over 76 2/3 innings pitched.
The biggest change, as his manager sees it, has been Narveson’s ability to realize what he needs to do to be effective.
“I think he’s kind of learned what type of pitcher he has to be, what works best for him,” said Brewers manager Ken Macha. “He does the fastball-changeup thing and mixes in a couple curves.
“I think he was trying to do too much with his breaking balls [earlier in the season]. He’s learned the back-and-forth game with his changeup, and that’s made his fastball better. He kind of saves his curveball for a finishing [pitch].”
Jordan Schelling is an associate reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
Marlins, Sanchez struggle in loss to Brewers
MILWAUKEE — It was a rough night for Marlins starter Anibal Sanchez. Things weren’t much easier for his teammates at the plate against Brewers ace Yovani Gallardo.
Sanchez (12-11) allowed five runs over 5 1/3 innings of work, while surrendering a season-high 10 hits to the Brewers as the Marlins lost, 8-3, on Thursday night at Miller Park.
Through four innings, however, things didn’t look so bad for Sanchez, as he looked to be putting together a strong outing and his team trailed by just one run.
All-Star right fielder Corey Hart got things started for the Brewers with a first-inning home run — his 30th of the season — while adding a pair of singles in the third and fifth innings, as he put together a 3-for-5 night with two RBIs.
That run would be the only one allowed by Sanchez through four innings. He surrendered two more in the fifth, but his manager still thought he was pitching well at that point.
“Anibal, I think he was good in the first five innings,” Marlins manager Edwin Rodriguez said. “Then he ran into bad luck with bloopers and then a soft line drive, and then he got himself in trouble. When you’re facing an offensive team like Milwaukee, they take advantage of everything.”
The Brewers did just that in the sixth. Casey McGehee led off with a single and Sanchez hit Mat Gamel with a pitch, putting two on with none out. Following a flyout to left, Luis Cruz blooped one in for a single to center, loading the bases for Gallardo.
Despite Sanchez’s best efforts against the Brewers starter, he added a single to left, which drove in two runs and proved to be the end of the night for the Marlins right-hander.
“[Gallardo’s] a pretty good hitter, too,” Sanchez said. “My slider’s my best pitch. I threw it to him and he made contact.”
Sanchez did not escape a single inning without allowing a hit, despite holding the Brewers to just one run through four. The loss was the third in Sanchez’s past four starts, as he’s posted a 6.95 ERA, while allowing 17 runs on 26 hits in 22 innings of work.
When asked about Sanchez’s poor numbers in September, Rodriguez attributed them to Sanchez being “overworked,” while adding his thoughts about Sanchez’s season as a whole.
“If the season is over today, I would say Anibal Sanchez had a great season,” Rodriguez said. “He’s been pitching very, very well. Just for the fact that he’s healthy and he’s throwing — that’s good news.”
On the mound for the Brewers, Gallardo delivered 6 2/3 innings, surrendering three runs on seven hits while walking two and recording nine strikeouts.
The Marlins’ No. 1-6 hitters particularly struggled, combining to go 3-for-19 against Gallardo, with six strikeouts and one RBI.
“The main thing for me is getting ahead — starting off with strike one,” Gallardo said. “That opens everything up for you to throw your slider, curveball, and it gets them to swing early.”
“We’re still trying to figure out what pitch that was,” Rodriguez said of the pitch that got rookie Logan Morrison to swing and miss. “It was either a changeup or a split-finger. Morrison came into the dugout saying, ‘I had no chance on that pitch.’
“That’s why he’s one of the best in the league.”
Gallardo (14-7) was shutting out the Marlins through six innings while limiting them to just four hits. In the seventh, the bottom of the order sparked a rally, as Mike Stanton and Brad Davis recorded back-to-back singles and scored on a Cameron Maybin single which was misplayed by Brewers center fielder Lorenzo Cain for an error.
Morrison proved to be the final batter faced by Gallardo, who walked the Marlins left fielder. Capping off the inning, Dan Uggla added the Marlins’ third run with a single off reliever Kameron Loe, scoring Maybin from third base.
Right-hander Sandy Rosario made his Major League debut in the seventh inning, and the Brewers welcomed him with back-to-back homers. On his first pitch in the big leagues, Rosario surrendered a solo homer to Rickie Weeks. Two pitches later, Prince Fielder went deep with his 31st of the season.
An inning after the offense managed to pull the Marlins back within two runs, Rosario’s rough debut put the game out of reach.
With the seventh-inning rally proving to be for naught, the highlight of the game for the Marlins ended up being Morrison’s walk. With the free pass, Morrison extended his streak to 42 consecutive games in which he has reached base safely, tying him with Mark Teixeira for the longest such streak in the Majors this season.
Afterward, though, Morrison was more disappointed about the team’s loss and less interested in talking about his own personal accomplishments.
“It would’ve felt better if we won the game,” Morrison said. “I don’t really know what to say about that. We didn’t win the game today, and I didn’t make a play for Anibal I needed to make that kind of blew the game open, and we weren’t able to come back from it.”
Homegrown Olympians throw out first pitches
MILWAUKEE — It was a big night Wednesday for Wisconsin athletes at Miller Park, capped by veteran infielder Craig Counsell’s three-run homer in the second inning. Before Counsell’s heroics, though, a pair of homegrown Olympians shared the spotlight.
Tossing ceremonial first pitches before the Brewers hosted the Reds were goalie Jessie Vetter and forward Jinelle Zaugg-Siergiej of the United States’ silver-medal winning women’s hockey team.
Since their final game against Canada in February, Vetter and Zaugg-Siergiej have been keeping busy with a number of guest appearances, including one at a Milwaukee Admirals game. So how did throwing a pitch in front of 27,004 fans at Miller Park rank?
“It’s pretty special because Jessie and I are both from Wisconsin,” Zaugg-Siergiej said. “Being able to throw an opening pitch and doing it in your home state, especially now that I’m living in Milwaukee, it means a lot, it’s a lot of fun.
“It’s a great feeling to represent something bigger than yourself and bigger even than Milwaukee with Team USA and the Olympics.”
Vetter and Zaugg-Siergiej are from Cottage Grove and Eagle River respectively. The two were teammates on the Wisconsin Badgers’ national championship team in 2006.
Between celebrating their silver medal victory with the rest of the country through various appearances and coaching and playing hockey, the two have remained busy in the offseason.
In fact, Zaugg-Siergiej recently got a new job, which resulted in her moving to the Milwaukee area.
“I actually just accepted a coaching position out at Arrowhead for their girls team,” Zaugg-Siergiej said. “I’m also coaching a U14 winter club youth team. Between those two I’m still playing myself, so I still travel and play and train all that kind of stuff.
“In the summers I also run a camp, so the entire summer was incredibly busy.”
While it was not the most well-attended game of the season for the Brewers, Miller Park still exceeded the 16,805 in attendance for the gold medal game in Vancouver on Feb. 25.
Vetter and Zaugg-Siergiej each stepped up in front of that crowd and delivered strong pitches to catcher Jonathan Lucroy behind the plate.
“I got a little nervous, but it was fun,” said Zaugg-Siergiej, who added that Vetter’s pitch was the more impressive of the two. “I’m just glad I made it on target all the way to home plate. She did play baseball growing up and I’ve never played baseball before.
“Hers was pretty hard. I’m going to give her that one.”
Wolf flies under the radar in lopsided victory
MILWAUKEE — On any other night, Randy Wolf’s performance would have been the story of the game. But with the way the Brewers hitters were swinging the bats in a 13-1 victory over the Reds, a quality start and a 2-for-4 performance at the plate got lost in the shuffle.
Making Wolf’s outing even more impressive was the way he responded after his club put up eight runs in the second and five more in the next three innings. Often with such long innings offensively, a team’s pitcher tends to struggle going back out on the mound.
Wolf just got better as the game went along.
“There were some long breaks, but the main thing is, when it’s that kind of score, you’ve got to go out there and feel like it’s 0-0,” Wolf said. “If you go out there and you see it’s 8-1, 13-1 … all of a sudden it’s four runs, five runs and they’re creeping their way back.
“As a pitcher, you’ve got to keep your focus and pitch the right way. You really don’t want to totally change your aggressiveness or change your whole philosophy just because of the score.”
Not only did Wolf pitch well as his team sent 34 hitters to the plate in the second through fifth innings, he did so after fighting through a rough first inning.
Wolf opened the game giving up three singles and a walk in the top of the first. Fortunately, the veteran lefty managed to hold the National League Central-leading Reds to just one run in the inning.
“Wolfy, another good outing for him,” said Brewers manager Ken Macha. “He got help with some defense in the first inning, a tremendous play by [Ryan] Braun getting the ball off the wall to get their leadoff hitter.”
With a fortunate out on his side, Wolf got the next batter to hit a grounder back to the mound. But with just one out to go in the inning, he walked Jay Bruce and surrendered back-to-back singles before striking out Yonder Alonso to end the inning.
That strikeout was the first of four in a row for Wolf and the beginning of a stretch of 11 consecutive batters retired. Wolf did not allow another hit until a leadoff double in the sixth off the bat of Paul Janish, who replaced Orlando Cabrera at shortstop.
“I didn’t really have the command I wanted early on,” Wolf said. “Luckily, as the game went on, I felt better and better and felt more comfortable out there and I was able to mix my pitches and work my fastball in and out.”
Tossing six strong innings while allowing just one run on four hits with seven strikeouts against two walks, Wolf posted his fourth straight quality start in September. This month, Wolf is 3-1 with a 1.21 ERA, allowing just four runs on 18 hits in 29 2/3 innings pitched.
Since his infamous 12-run outing in Pittsburgh, Wolf has gone 6-2 with a 2.57 ERA in his last 11 starts, giving up 21 earned runs over 73 2/3 innings pitched. In his 31 other starts not including that July 21 loss, Wolf is 13-10 with a 3.81 ERA.
“Randy was great again,” shortstop Craig Counsell said. “He’s been on quite a roll, and he’s put together a good season — a really good season.”
Brewers beat 9/22
McClendon causes stir with quick pitch
MILWAUKEE — As manager Ken Macha sees it, what Brewers reliever Mike McClendon does with two strikes absolutely is not an illegal quick pitch. The four Reds batters McClendon struck out on Tuesday night would likely disagree.
After he struck out third baseman Scott Rolen to end the seventh, home-plate umpire Dan Bellino told Macha he thought it was a quick pitch, though he didn’t make the call.
“He said the hitter wasn’t looking,” Macha said. “Go back and look at the tape, the hitter was looking. But sometimes what happens is the umpire gets caught off guard.”
In the eighth, McClendon continued to work with a shorter, quicker delivery after two strikes, and he struck out the side doing so.
The last of McClendon’s four strikeout victims was catcher Ramon Hernandez, who was noticeably upset afterward, pleading his case with Bellino.
“I don’t think in McClendon’s situation that it should even be in the conversation,” Macha said. “He takes a step back, he does his drop step, and then after he gets to his balance point, either he’s slow or he goes fast. There should not even be a question for that.”
McClendon’s manner of pitching in such situations is acceptable, so long as no runners are on base. With the bases empty, the requirement of coming set before pitching is not in play.
As far as Macha is concerned, pitching quickly is no different than switching up between a fastball and an offspeed pitch. It’s all designed to do the same thing to the hitter.
“The idea of pitching is to disrupt the hitter’s timing,” Macha said. “You do that by throwing changeups and fastballs and all that stuff. This is just a little variation of it, and I see absolutely nothing wrong with it.”
Another National League Central pitcher, Cardinals starter Jake Westbrook, pitches with a similar style to McClendon’s. When facing him, Brewers hitters made a concerted effort to call timeout to prevent any potential quick pitch.
So who’s at fault in the quick pitch issue?
“Is it on the hitter? He’s in the box,” Macha said. “If he knows the pitcher is going to do that, it’s up to him to call time.”
Cruz not seeing much playing time
MILWAUKEE — Since being recalled from Triple-A Nashville on Sept. 7, shortstop Luis Cruz has pinch-hit twice for the Brewers, once in Houston and again in San Francisco.
Cruz has yet to start a game for the Brewers, and though he started nearly 40 games in two years with the Pirates, his manager did not wish to start him against contenders like the Giants and Reds.
After playing in 129 games for the Sounds this year, sitting and watching from the bench is a new role for Cruz.
“I’m just working hard to see whenever they find a chance for me and let me play, that’s the only thing I can do,” Cruz said. “You want to play and help the team win, but the manager is the manager. He’s the one that sets the lineup, and he’s got to pick the guys that he thinks are going to help win games.”
With their official elimination from the playoff race on Sunday, though, the Brewers aren’t going anywhere, regardless of how many games they win. Add in the fact that they need to go 12-0 the rest of the way to finish at .500, and the need for winning games would not seem too high.
Learning what they can about September callups like Cruz, however, would seem like a priority. According to Macha, that’s likely to come in the next two series against the Marlins and Mets, both of whom are also on the outside looking in at the contenders.
“I had thrown a crazy idea out there this morning, I don’t know if I’ve got the nerve to do that,” Macha said without giving any additional details. “It’s a little further out of the box than playing Luis Cruz.”
Joining Cruz in watching from the dugout has been Mat Gamel, who also started one game at third base with Prince Fielder out of the lineup.
Any out-of-the-ordinary lineup against the Marlins would likely include Gamel as well, though what defensive position he would play is uncertain. Before Wednesday’s game, Macha had good things to say about Gamel’s outfield abilities.
“He was running them down in the outfield,” Macha said. “He was outstanding in right field. Watching him run balls down today, he was pretty good.”
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