
With paternity leave looming, Marlins closer Peter Fairbanks takes the mound Sunday as an opener, aiming for a strong send-off before welcoming his fourth child.
Peter Fairbanks is slated to go on paternity leave on Monday and will start in Sunday's series finale as the Miami Marlins visit the New York Yankees.
“With the rain delay, I wanted (Fairbanks) to get back with the birth of his child,” Marlins manager Clayton McCullough said during his pregame press conference.
Fairbanks, whose last outing was on Tuesday, has not allowed a run in three innings over three appearances this season. The 32-year-old is expecting his fourth child with his wife, Lydia, on Monday. He will be out for three games of the Marlins’ upcoming four-game homestand against the Cincinnati Reds.
Chris Paddack was slated to start on Sunday before the weather delay. After the game was announced to be pushed back from its originally scheduled 1:35 p.m. ET start, the Marlins updated the lineup with Fairbanks starting over Paddack, who is expected to handle the bulk of the innings.
“If this was a normal start time, we would run things normally. We would have Chris start,” McCullough said. “We want to get an inning or so out of Pete either way. He is going to be out of the mix for a few days, so we felt it was best to grab that early on.”
Since breaking into the big leagues in 2019, Fairbanks ranks 15th among active pitchers with 92 career saves. Fairbanks signed a one-year $13 million free-agent deal with the Marlins this offseason after a seven-year tenure with Tampa Bay. He recorded a save in each of his first two Marlins appearances this season.
That hasn’t happened in Miami since Armando Benítez accomplished the feat in 2004, and that was en route to recording a save in six straight appearances, per Elias Sports Bureau.
Ironically, the concept of the opener was created by the Rays a year before Fairbanks made his big-league debut with the club. The closer would start the game against the top three-to-four batters in the opposing lineup, then pass the ball to whoever would normally start in order to go through the lower portion of the lineup and make it through innings two through seven.
Through their first homestand of the season, the Marlins' bullpen allowed only one run in 17.2 innings. Led by Fairbanks, the group combined to give up only six hits with three walks and 24 strikeouts. Like the Marlins, the bullpen ran into a rough patch against the Yankees this weekend. They gave up three earned runs at the end of an 8-2 loss on Friday. They also allowed seven runs (five earned) during a back-and-forth 9-7 defeat on Saturday.
It hasn’t been announced who is going to come up in Fairbanks’ place during his absence but it will likely be out of the Triple-A bullpen. One good option would be William Kempner, who is on the Marlins' 40-man roster and leads the International League with 11 strikeouts in four innings so far this season for the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp.
Join our ROUNDTABLE community! It's free to join. Share your thoughts, engage with our Roundtable writers, and chat with fellow members.
Download the free Roundtable APP, and stay even more connected!


