[jksander]

May 9, 2025: Attendance is back up over 15,000 for game one of our three game series against the Marlins here at Rate Field, with clear skies, temps in the 60s and the wind blowing out at 12 miles per hour for our 7:05 p.m. first pitch. Noah Syndergaard (2-1, 3.29 ERA, 38.1 IP, 21 K’s, 1.12 WHIP) has been red hot in his last several starts, and he faced Max Meyer (1-3, 4.54 ERA, 33.2 IP, 29 K’s, 1.31 WHIP) with our team riding an unexpected wave of success. But that luck came to an end early ... poor positioning at third and then an error at short put runners on base, and though Syndergaard got two strikeouts, Augustin Ramirez hit a three-run blast out of left, and the Marlins have four red-hot hitters in the top half of their lineup ... that wind blowing out is going to be a wild card all night. Syndergaard did what he could, getting us through six innings, but our offense was going to need to help. Justin Dunn took over in the top of the seventh still trailing 3-0, and in the top of the eighth they added on with a two-out solo homer by Ramirez for his second dinger of the game. Finally we got on the board in the bottom of the inning with Grenier scoring off a wild pitch and Joey Gallo batting in Lopez with a single, and Dunn got us through the top of the ninth without anyone adding on. We loaded the bases with one out in the bottom of the inning, Meidroth beating out an infield squib to do it, but Vargas hit into a 4-6-3 double play to end our winning streak as Miami prevailed 4-2. Syndergaard gave us six innings with eight hits, a walk, six strikeouts and three runs, ALL UNEARNED ... so his ERA improved to 2.84 as he fell to 2-2. Dunn pitched the remaining three innings with a hit, three strikeouts and an earned run, and we were outhit just 9-8. Gallo had a hit and an RBI, and Lopez had a hit, a walk and a run from the leadoff spot.

May 10, 2025: Ryan Weber (1-3, 2.92 ERA, 37.0 IP, 25 K’s, 1.05 WHIP) got the start against Miami’s Cal Quantrill (1-4, 6.06 ERA, 32.2 IP, 21 K’s, 1.62 WHIP) in game two, and we took the lead in the bottom of the first with a leadoff homer by Austin Slater, and in the bottom of the second we added an RBI single by Dominic Fletcher to increase our lead to 2-0. We added on four more runs in the bottom of the fourth, and Weber got us through the fifth unblemished. With two outs in the top of the sixth and nobody on, Martin Perez took over, and Penn Murfee came out to pitch in the eighth leading by seven runs. He blew the shutout in the ninth, as the Marlins got on board with a two-run homer by Jesus Sanchez, but he ended the game with back to back strikeouts and we won easily, 7-2. Weber improved to 2-3 with a 2.53 ERA, lasting 5.2 innings today with a hit, a walk and two strikeouts. We outhit them 10-3, led by Slater who had three hits, two runs and four RBIs, including homers in the first and fourth innings, giving him four for the season.

Brandon Drury cleared waivers but has refused a minor league assignment, so we have released him, adding $557,284 to our expenses for the year.

May 11, 2025: Sean Burke (0-5, 5.91 ERA, 35.0 IP, 35 K’s, 1.43 WHIP) got the start in our last game hosting Miami, with the Marlins starting Anthony Veneziano (0-6, 7.44 ERA, 32.2 IP, 22 K’s, 1.59 WHIP) ... will one of these beleagured starters get his first win of the year today, or will the winner come out of the bullpen? Manuel Vargas hit an RBI double in the bottom of the third to get us our first lead of the day, and Burke got out of a two outs bases loaded jam in the fourth to keep the Marlins scoreless. Tauchman added on with an RBI single in the bottom of the inning, which was immediately followed by a two-run double by Vargas, giving us a solid 4-0 lead! Craig Kimbrel took over for Burke in the top of the sixth, and with two outs he gave up a two-run slam out of left by Jesus Sanchez to put Miami on the board. Martin Perez came out and got us out of the inning with the lead still safe, and Vargas hit a sac-fly to drive in Chase Meidroth from third, giving us a 5-2 advantage heading into the seventh. Mike Clevinger took over in the top of the eighth leading still by three, and he was uncharacteristically off tonight, giving up back to back hits including an RBI double by Sanchez to get the Marlins back within two off just two total pitches ... but he stranded a pair and got us out of the inning still leading by two, a lead Brandon Eisert came out to protect in the top of the ninth. He got three quick outs and it was over, we beat Miami 5-3 to complete another two to one series win. Burke was able to get his first win of the year, improving to 1-5 with a 5.17 ERA thanks to just one hit, one walk and six strikeouts through five innings! Perez got his second hold and Clevinger his third, and Eisert saved his eighth game in a row and remains perfect through 10.1 innings with a 0.58 WHIP! Considering he was traded to Tampa for cash considerations in January and then picked up by us off waivers, it’s pretty impressive that he already has half a game in WAR through 11 appearances. We outhit them 11-5, led by Vargas, who hit twice with four RBIs, and by Tauchman, who had three hits, two runs and an RBI.

This win gets us to 14-27, and since losing our first three games of the month, we’ve now gone 6-2 since then, winning back to back series. We’ll have a tough challenge on the road agianst Cincinnati, who at 23-17 trail the NL-C’s leader Milwaukee by just a game. But if we can keep this streak of success going, our series on the north side against the Cubs (17-23) could cement this as a “real thing.”