MIAMI _ A few minutes after noon on Opening Day, the majority of the Miami Marlins' 25-man roster poured into the home clubhouse at Marlins Park and for the next half our or so the room buzzed. The position players in the starting lineup _ many of whom had never come into a season expecting such a large role _ talked about what the opportunity meant to them. Pitchers mingled with one another, taking their time to get ready for the first game of the 2019 season.
They were all just a few hours away from being on the wrong end of a 6-3 loss to the Colorado Rockies on Thursday, but Miami went into Opening Day feeling better about the season than outside expectations might suggest. An 11-game winning streak, even in spring training, shouldn't be discounted, Derek Jeter said Wednesday. The fact everyone buys into the Marlins' long-term vision, according to manager Don Mattingly, made this season feel at least a little bit different from last, when Miami lost 98 games. Marlins Park drew a solid crowd of 25,423.
"We know that there's not a guy in that clubhouse who doesn't want to be here," Mattingly said at a pregame press conference. "I think that's important moving forward. We want guys to want to play in Miami and be proud of what this organization is doing."
The luster of Opening Day can only last so long and for the Marlins it lasted until the top of the fourth inning. Miami (0-1) committed two errors in the frame and allowed four runs to the Rockies. Without almost any semblance of an offense against Colorado starting pitcher Kyle Freeland, the Marlins couldn't recover.
By the top of the fourth inning, Miami still hadn't yet had a baserunner. The Marlins also, however, managed to keep the Rockies (1-0) off the scoreboard.
Nolan Arenado began the frame with a double to left, then infielder Miguel Rojas winged fielded a ground ball at shortstop and winged a routine throw over converted-third baseman Martin Prado's head at first base to let Arenado get to third. Outfielder David Dahl followed with a single to right field to break the scoreless tie with Miami.
Two batters later, Lewis Brinson made another gaffe in center field. Ryan McMahon knocked a single to center and Brinson whiffed while trying to scoop up the rolling ball. McMahon raced all the way to third base, then catcher Chris Ianetta drove him home with a double to center. Quickly, a scoreless tie became a 4-0 deficit and the Marlins, for the first time in 2019, were booed in Miami.
"Everybody likes to get their season off and running, but I'm not sure that's really going to be the tale of our season," Mattingly said after the game. "The tale's going to be who we are through the course of the year."
Jose Urena, starting on Opening Day for the second straight year, only lasted another inning. The starting pitcher coughed up two more runs in the top of the fifth, including a solo home run by Trevor Story, and Mattingly pulled him with the Marlins down 6-0. In 42/3 innings, Urena (0-1) allowed four earned runs and struck out two batters.
Urena also battled through some left leg tightness after a line drive hit him on the inside of the knee. Even as his velocity dropped, the right-handed pitcher stayed in the game.
"I was getting a little tight, but besides that we tried to keep doing the thing," Urena said. "I felt fine, just a little bit of swelling, but besides that I felt fine."
For Colorado, Freeland (1-0) dominated his first Opening Day start. A year after finishing fourth in Cy Young Award voting, the left-handed pitcher surrendered just two hits and one run in seven innings, striking out five and walking one.
"He kept us off the bases early," Mattingly said. "We weren't able to really put anything together."
The only run he allowed came in the bottom of the sixth, when the Marlins turned to JT Riddle as a pinch hitter and the shortstop launched a solo home run over the right-field fence.
Two innings later, utility man Neil Walker came off the bench to do the same, then, in the bottom of the ninth, catcher Jorge Alfaro slammed another homer out to right. After so much went wrong early, Miami's offense came alive for three unanswered runs to close out Game 1.
Now 161 more to go.
"We're throwing the expectations out the window," Walker said after the game. "Actually, we're embracing and happy that teams are looking past us and I think that's going to be a strength for us."
