Janson Junk delivered his deepest outing, but a late slider proved costly. The Marlins ultimately fell despite his career-long performance on the mound.
MIAMI — Janson Junk threw one of his best games as a Miami Marlin.
Unfortunately, he wasn’t able to celebrate.
Junk tossed 7.1 innings, a career high, allowing two runs on seven hits with three strikeouts in the Marlins' 2-0 home loss Monday against the Cincinnati Reds at loanDepot Park.
“It was unfortunate we couldn’t pull away there,” Junk said after the game. “That’s baseball, though. I felt like I gave it my all.”
Junk has thrown seven innings only three times for the Marlins, all in 2025. With Tyler Phillips warming up, Marlins manager Clayton McCullough opted to let Junk go deeper in the game, into the eighth inning, with Miami down 1-0.
“He was fantastic,” McCullough said of Junk. “They were aggressive, but he was filling it up with a lot of different offerings, moved the ball around well. Unfortunately, he came up on the losing end.”
Tyler Stephenson pounced on a Junk slider and hit a solo home run to lead off the eighth inning. After TJ Friedl reached on a bunt, it was time for Junk’s night to end.
“Body was pretty taxed,” Junk said. “But at that point, I was trying to compete and hung that slider.”
Phillips came into the game in relief and finished it with 1.2 hitless innings and a strikeout. After using a lot of relievers in the previous series against the Yankees in New York, and their closer out on paternity leave, having to use only one reliever is a result McCullough is pleased with.
“For (Junk) to go that deep in the game and a number of guys in the pen to get a night off sets us well for some of these guys to kind of start bouncing back,” McCullough said.
Brandon Williamson threw 6.2 shutout innings, allowing three hits with four strikeouts and a walk. The Marlins (6-3) didn’t get their first hit of the game until Otto Lopez hit a single in the fourth inning. Lopez was the only Marlins hitter to get multiple base hits.
“Williamson threw a good game,” McCullough said. “It’s a good heater and he has a changeup back behind it.”
Elly De La Cruz doubled and scored on a single from Sal Stewart in the fourth inning to score Cincinnati’s first run of the game. The star shortstop led the Reds at the plate along with Friedl with two hits each.
Agustin Ramirez hit a triple in the sixth inning, but was stranded after a strikeout by Reds reliever Brock Burke ended the inning. The Reds’ bullpen combined for one walk and two strikeouts in 2.1 hitless innings of work to end the game. Emilio Pagán earned his fourth save of the season with a perfect ninth.
The Marlins will send the ace back to the mound on Tuesday. Sandy Alcantara (0.00 ERA) threw a complete-game shutout with fewer than 100 pitches in his previous outing.
The Reds will start Andrew Abbott (3.09 ERA) for his third outing of the season.
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