MIAMI — About three hours before first pitch Monday, Miami Marlins manager Don Mattingly warned that his team couldn’t overlook the Pittsburgh Pirates club they were about to face for the next four days.
They learned that the hard way in the series opener.
The Marlins fell behind early and couldn’t recover in a 5-1 loss to the Pirates at loanDepot park. Miami is now 41-44 on the season and 10-18 in series openers, while Pittsburgh improves to 37-50.
The Pirates scored three runs against Trevor Rogers in the first two innings. Diego Castillo opened scoring with a two-out single on a soft line drive that fell in shallow center field to score score Kevin Newman and Ke’Bryan Hayes, both of whom also reached on singles. A Newman double in the second scored Jake Marisnick, who drew a one-out walk and stole second.
Rogers settled in from there to throw 5 1/3 innings with seven strikeouts while scattering six hits and walking three batters. It was just the third time in 17 starts this year that Rogers has pitched beyond the fifth inning.
Marisnick added a two-run home run in the ninth against Jimmy Yacabonis to pad the Pirates’ lead.
Miami’s lone run came in the sixth when Avisail Garcia’s two-out single scored Garrett Cooper, who hit a double earlier in the inning. The Marlins tallied just five hits against Pirates starter Mitch Keller, who threw a career-high seven innings.
In essence, the Marlins on Monday did the exact opposite of what they intended to do coming off a four-game road series split with the New York Mets and a run that included eight wins over their previous 11 games entering the Pirates series to keep themselves in the thick of the National League playoff race.
“Just kind of continue momentum from what’s been going on,” Mattingly said pregame. “Hopefully come home and play well in this series. That’s the key with where we are at this point. Just continue momentum. Continue to play well series to series and keep moving.”
Monday was an aberration from that plan.
Injury updates
— Outfielder Jorge Soler is scheduled to begin a rehab assignment with the Double A Pensacola Blue Wahoos on Tuesday.
— Second baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr. is continuing his baseball activities progression and played catch out to 90 feet Monday.
— Left-handed pitcher Jesus Luzardo is scheduled to throw two innings of live batting practice on Tuesday
— Right-handed pitcher Edward Cabrera threw a two-inning live batting practice session on Monday.
— Right-handed pitcher Louis Head is scheduled to throw two innings with Marlins’ rookie-level Florida Complex League affiliate Tuesday.
— Right-handed pitcher Cody Poteet’s next rehab assignment outing is slated for Tuesday with Triple A Jacksonville.
— Right-handed pitcher Sixto Sanchez is scheduled to throw two bullpens this week, with a focus on increasing his pitch velocity.
Up next
The Marlins have three more games with the Pirates, with the games on Tuesday and Wednesday starting at 6:40 and Thursday’s finale set for a 12:10 p.m. first pitch.
Daniel Castano (1-2, 3.60 ERA) is slated to pitch Tuesday for the Marlins, with Pablo Lopez (6-4, 2.91) set for Wednesday and Braxton Garrett (1-3, 4.25) on Thursday.
The Pirates have not announced their starting pitcher for Tuesday but JT Brubaker (2-8, 4.34) is scheduled for Wednesday and Zach Thompson (3-6, 4.38) for Thursday.
