MIAMI _ The Miami Marlins were barely done celebrating Sixto Sanchez's first career complete game in Game 1 of their doubleheader against the Philadelphia Phillies when they laid out their plan for Game 2: Braxton Garrett, the No. 4 pitching prospect in the organization, was going to make his debut just 30 minutes after Sanchez, the Marlins' No. 1 prospect, finished up maybe the most impressive outing of his young career.
Miami is in the thick of a playoff race, well positioned to make the postseason for the first time since 2003, and the Marlins placed one of the most important days of their season in the hands of two rookie starting pitchers.
"That shows you how deep the organization is," shortstop Miguel Rojas said. "This organization is built to win for a long time. ... If this does not open the eyes of the people out there that the organization is deep and is doing whatever they need to do to be a winner _ and a sustainable winner _ for a long time, I don't know what will."
Sanchez gave up one run on three hits and three walks with four strikeouts in seven innings to win Game 1. Garrett, the extra man for the doubleheader, gave up one run on three hits and two walks with six strikeouts in five innings to pick up an 8-1 win in Game 2. Miami (23-21) swept a pair of seven-inning games at Marlins Park to pass the Phillies (23-22) for second place in the National League East.
The sweep also pulls Miami half a game closer to the first-place Atlanta Braves. The Marlins sit 3 { games back in the division and are now the No. 5 seed in the NL.
"We're trying to go for the division," Rojas said.
It all set this weekend up as one of the most important on the calendar for the Marlins, who started Thursday 1 { games behind Philadelphia for second place. A seven-game series across five days in Miami would, at a minimum, determine who had the upper hand entering the final two weeks of the regular season.
Ravaged by COVID-19 and trapped in a compressed schedule rife with doubleheaders, the Marlins have had no choice this year but to lean on rookies. When Garrett took the mound in the top of the first inning in Game 2, he became the 18th player to make his Major League debut for Miami this season _ a franchise record.
The Marlins spent years crafting this rookie class. They acquired Sanchez, first baseman Lewin Diaz, middle infielder Jazz Chisholm and outfielder Jesus Sanchez in a series of trades last year, got outfielder Monte Harrison in a 2018 deal and landed starting pitcher Nick Neidert in a 2017 trade. They picked Garrett in the first round of the 2016 MLB draft and took pitcher Trevor Rogers in the first round a year later.
Nine of Miami's top 11 prospects, according to MLB.com, have made their debut this season, including Sanchez and Garrett. They're supposed to be the long-term foundation of the franchise, just not yet.
"It's the reason we probably had a lot more confidence in ourselves going into a regular season of 162 before the whole shutdown," manager Don Mattingly said. "You knew you had all that depth. I didn't think we would have to use it to this degree."
Outings like his Sunday have already become routine for Sanchez. The right-handed pitcher has been impressive in all five of his starts now, but he was arguably at his best in Game 1, throwing a seven-inning complete game _ the first of his career _ to lower his ERA to 1.69.
The Marlins were so confident in the starter they didn't have a relief pitcher start warming up until Sanchez, 22, was just two outs away from finishing off the 2-1 win.
"I have a lot of cojones to go out there and pitch," Sanchez told the Miami Marlins Radio Network.
Sanchez did not, however, have his usual swing-and-miss stuff, instead relying on guile to coax 10 groundouts from the Phillies.
Garrett, 23, made up for it quickly in Game 2. He started off his career with a six-pitch strikeout of outfielder Andrew McCutchen, then followed it with a three-pitch strikeout of utility infielder Jean Segura. He ended the 1-2-3 inning by getting superstar outfielder Bryce Harper to fly out center field.
By the time he was back on the mound, Garrett (1-0) had a 3-0 lead. Miami's first five batters all reached against starting pitcher Zach Eflin. First baseman Jesus Aguilar drove in Corey Dickerson with a single, Matt Joyce drove in fellow outfielder Starling Marte with another and slugging third baseman Brian Anderson sent Aguilar home with a third. Eflin (2-2) was down 3-0 before he even got an out.
In Game 1, third baseman Alec Bohm was the only hitter to truly crack Sanchez, leading off the second with a double and scoring Philadelphia's only run. In Game 2, Bohm tagged Garrett with a solo home run to lead off the second to start the Phillies' lone true threat. Shortstop Didi Gregorius followed with a single, outfielder Phil Gosselin drew a no-out walk and then Garrett finally settled down, getting two groundouts and a strikeout to escape.
The left-handed pitcher threw 75 pitches in his debut, and switched back and forth, between his fastball and curveball. He threw his four-seam fastball 32 times and his curve 22, finishing three strikeouts with each.
He looked like a veteran all the way up until the fifth inning, when Anderson made a spectacular throw across the diamond inning for the second out of the frame. Garrett's eyes bugged out and his draw dropped, and he finally looked like a wide-eyed rookie playing in the Majors for the first time.
"I was like, Aw, I just kind of looked like a 10-year-old in a candy shop in the middle of a big-league game," Garrett said. "That was so cool, man."
