Marlins right-hander Dan Straily dropped the appeal for his five-game suspension and will begin the ban beginning with Tuesday night's game against Arizona. Manager Don Mattingly will also serve his one-game suspension Tuesday night.
The league handed Straily the suspension for hitting Giants catcher Buster Posey with a pitch June 19 in San Francisco. Warnings were already issued to both benches, so Straily was immediately ejected, as was Mattingly.
Straily pitched 6 1/3 innings Monday night against the Diamondbacks and will be eligible to pitch again on Sunday. In Mattingly's place, bench coach Tim Wallach will manage the Marlins.
The incident stemmed from a chain of events on June 18, a come-from-behind 5-4 Miami win over San Francisco. In the ninth inning, Lewis Brinson celebrated his game-tying single by yelling on his way to first base. Giants right-hander Hunter Strickland jawed at Brinson on his way out of the game.
The next day, Giants right-hander Dereck Rodriguez hit Brinson with the first pitch he saw in the second inning. Straily responded by plunking Posey in the bottom half of the frame.
Straily's suspension puts the Marlins in a bind with their upcoming rotation. Left-hander Caleb Smith's spot comes up Friday, but he's likely to miss the season with a Grade 3 lat strain. Straily would have pitched Saturday night.
So Miami is searching for starting pitchers for both Friday and Saturday against the Mets. Mattingly mentioned Brett Graves and Ben Meyer as options, and the team could also opt to recall a pitcher from the minors already on the 40-man roster. Jarlin Garcia, Dillon Peters, Sandy Alcantara and Odrisamer Despaigne are all on the roster.
After the Marlins patch together their rotation Friday and Saturday, they could receive a reinforcement from Jose Urena. Urena is on the 10-day disabled list with right shoulder impingement, but would be eligible to return Sunday against the Mets.
He threw before Tuesday's game and is scheduled for a bullpen session Friday afternoon. The team could also wait an extra few days to ease Urena back into the rotation next week.
"We'll talk about where do we put him back in there and if we want him to throw two 'pens," Mattingly said.
