By Zachary McMahon-
The Miami Marlins hosted the Pittsburgh Pirates in the opening series finale on Sunday afternoon. The Marlins won two out of the first three games in the series off walk-offs, and this match was no different from the Marlins.
Max Meyer started for the Marlins, and went 5 ⅔ innings, allowing five hits, one earned run, one walk, and tying his career-high of seven strikeouts. Andrew Heaney pitched five innings for the Pirates, allowing four hits, an earned run and a walk, and four K’s.
Xzavion Curry made his major league season debut after his contract was selected after righthander Brett De Geus was designated for assignment on Sunday, after one appearance from Triple-A Jacksonville. Curry made nine appearances last season for the Marlins after being DFA’d by the Cleveland Guardians who he spent portions of his first two seasons in the league with. He was designated for assignment on Feb. 11, and was sent outright to Jacksonville.
Marlins righthander Jesus Tinoco was put on the 15-day injured list with a lower-back strain and sent Vallente Ballozo to Jacksonville.
Enmanuel Valdez started at first base for the first time in his career for the Pirates, where he went 0-for-3 with a walk. He had made his Pirates debut on Friday after being recalled from Triple-A Indianapolis, playing as a defensive replacement out in right field, also a position he had never played when he started his career with the Boston Red Sox, where he was traded from in the offseason.
The teams traded runs in the second inning after Andrew McCutchen hit a solo homer and Nick Fortes doubled and brought home Derek Hill. McCutchen hit his 800th career extra base hit, which is third most among active players behind Paul Goldschmidt and Freddie Freeman.
Endy Rodriquez scored on an infield single from Isiah Kiner-Falefa in the fifth inning, as the Pirates had their second lead of the game.
Then on the day that Jeff Conine, also known as “Mr. Marlin” gets honored, his son Griffin hits a homer to tie the game once again in the seventh.
Then in the bottom half of the ninth, Hill reached on an infield single, stole second and then advanced to third on a throwing error by Rodriquez, then David Bednar threw a wild pitch, which allowed Hill to score a walk-off winner, as the Marlins won 3-2 over the Pirates.
The Marlins have won their first three games on walk-off, which makes it the first time since the 2003 Tampa Bay Devil Rays that a team’s first three wins are on walk-offs. They’re the third team to do this in the last 30 years as the New York Mets did this in 1998, as back then it hadn’t been done since 1914.
The Pirates had tied an MLB record of 14 stolen bases in the first three games of the season with the 1984 Cleveland Indians. Kyle Swinski had the only stolen base of the game, after Curry came in relief for Mayer. That made it 15 steals, which makes the Pirates the fourth team in MLB history to have 15+ steals in the first four games of the season, and they are the first team to do it since the aforementioned 1984 Indians. The 1903 New York Giants (now San Francisco Giants), had the most with 16 steals.
The Marlins had dished out five more walks to the Pirates, as the Pirates had walked 25 times in the four-game series. That is only one less than when the Pirates walked 26 times against the Marlins last season. The most they walked in the first four games was in the 2019 season when they walked 29 times in that span. Rodriquez was the only player to walk twice for the Bucs.
McCutchen’s homer in the second moved him into the 206th spot in the MLB All-time hits list as he got his 2,154th base hit.
The Pirates will stay in the Sunshine State as they will play the Tampa Bay Rays at Steinbrenner Field in Tampa, FL starting on Monday at 7:05 pm first pitch, with Carmen Mlodzinski going up against Drew Rasmussen.
Meanwhile, the Marlins will stay down in Miami to play a three-game home series against the New York Mets starting Monday at 6:40 pm, where Cal Quantrill will make his Marlins debut on the mound against David Peterson.
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