Chris Paddack pitched brilliantly, but timely Tigers hits and a solo homer doomed the Marlins in a frustrating shutout loss.
The Miami Marlins were shut out for the second time in five games, as they fell 2-0 to the Detroit Tigers on Friday.
Despite taking the loss, Friday was Chris Paddack’s best pitching performance so far this season. The veteran right-hander scattered seven hits for two runs with one walk and four strikeouts in six innings.
"Chris was great," Marlins manager Clayton McCullough said during his postgame press conference. "I thought he used the full mix really well. He moved the ball around."
Three straight singles in the second inning led to the Tigers scoring their first run of the night. Dillon Dingler led off with a base hit, advanced to third from Kerry Carpenter’s knock, and scored from Spencer Torkelson‘s only hit in the game.
Paddack’s third outing of the season could have been much worse. After giving up a run in the second inning, he loaded the bases with two outs after walking Kevin McGonigle. Marlins right-fielder Owen Caissie made a sliding catch to escape the inning.
Javier Baez hit his fourth home run of the season in the fifth to keep the Tigers ahead. The veteran center fielder saw three straight sweepers and took one off the zone sharply towards the left field stands.
"This is what Javy can do," McCullough said. "He can go out and get some pitches that maybe aren’t in the zone. He’s a talented very player and has been one for a long time."
"The Sheriff" ended his outing with authority, striking out Carpenter and Torkelson swinging to end his final inning of work.
Tigers (5-9) starter Keider Montero earned the win with six shutout innings, allowing only two hits and one walk while striking out seven. McCullough said Montero "threw a great game."
"He really located the bottom of the zone like he was just painting down there," McCullough said, "Had a lot of movement on his sinker and got us off the barrel on a couple of occasions."
Xavier Edwards hit a triple in the first inning, but was stranded after Montero got out of the jam on a strikeout and a flyout. Montero escaped a similar jam in the fifth inning after Connor Norby doubled, only in reverse order.
"We had the one-out triple in the first and weren’t able to get it in, and after that we didn’t get a whole lot going," McCullough said.
Luke Bachar finished the game for the Marlins (8-6), pitching the final two innings with three strikeouts and only one hit allowed.
Kenley Jansen went hitless in the ninth to earn his second save of the season for the Tigers.
Janson Junk (0-1, 3.09 ERA) will start for the Marlins on Saturday against Casey Mize (0-1, 5.23 ERA) and the Tigers.
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