PHILADELPHIA — The Miami Marlins began Friday by losing one of their most exciting young players to a stint on the injured list, then their newly short-handed lineup made Matt Moore look like an All-Star in the opener of a doubleheader against the Philadelphia Phillies.
About an hour before beginning the second half of the season with a 5-2 loss to the Phillies in Philadelphia, the Marlins placed Jesus Sanchez on the IL for undisclosed reasons and the move has all the hallmarks of a decision made because of COVID-19.
Typically, Miami gives a reason for IL stints, unless they’re for COVID-19-related issues, which could include a positive test, contact tracing or a vaccine reaction. Sanchez wasn’t playing through any known injuries before the All-Star break and started 21 of the Marlins’ last 24 games before the break following his June promotion. Miami brought multiple minor league players to Philadelphia, including Isan Diaz and Lewis Brinson, to be ready in case multiple players had to go on the IL.
The Marlins activated Diaz is Sanchez’s place and added pitcher Jordan Holloway to the active roster as their 27th man for the doubleheader.
Sanchez, who’s the No. 96 prospect in MLB.com’s rankings, is batting .264 with three home runs, three doubles and a triple, and has been Miami’s everyday starter in left field since getting called up last month. The Marlins even traded fellow outfielder Corey Dickerson to the Toronto Blue Jays in June to clear room for the rookie to get regular at-bats.
With Sanchez sidelined indefinitely, slugger Garrett Cooper moved into the starting lineup, playing right field and batting third for Game 1 on Friday. Outfielder Adam Duvall, who was battling an illness last weekend, returned to the lineup as the left fielder and clean-up hitter at Citizens Bank Park.
Cooper collected a first-inning hit, Duvall went 0 for 3 and the Marlins (39-51) never figured out Moore in the first of two seven-inning games Friday. The Phillies (45-44) jumped on starting pitcher Sandy Alcantara for three runs in the first inning, then tacked on two more unearned runs in the third off an error by Jazz Chisholm Jr. to chase Alcantara (5-9) from the game after only three innings and eight pitches. Miami scored two against Moore in the second — on a trio of doubles by Chisholm, and fellow infielders Jon Berti and Miguel Rojas — but Philadelphia’s two-run third turned a 3-2 lead into a 5-2 advantage to keep the Marlins at bay as Moore struck out nine in 4 1/3 innings.
It was pitcher’s first nine-strikeout performance since 2017. Miami struck out 12 times total in seven innings after relief pitchers Archie Bradley and Ranger Suarez closed out the game. Bradley (4-1) tossed a 1-2-3 sixth and Suarez got the save by striking out the side in the seventh.
The loss dropped Miami to 12 games below .500 for only the second time this season and put the Marlins 9 1/2 games back of the first-place New York Mets in the National League East race. With COVID-19 concerns now swirling and the trade deadline looming, Miami is off to a nightmare start to the second half of the season.
Last year, the Marlins were hit harder by the coronavirus than any other team, losing more than a dozen players to positive tests in the opening week of the 2020 MLB season. This year, Miami has almost entirely avoided virus issues, only placing players on the COVID-19-related IL for vaccine reactions in the first half of the season.
After MLB made it through most of the first half of the season with minimal COVID-19 issues, it has become a problem again in the last week. Phillies corner infielder Alec Bohm tested positive for the virus on Saturday, forcing Philadelphia to place multiple players, including star starting pitcher Aaron Nola, on the COVID-19-related IL. Nola, as a result, will not pitch this weekend against the Marlins.
On Thursday, MLB postponed the first game after the All-Star break after multiple New York Yankees tested positive for the coronavirus including outfielder Aaron Judge, who had just been in Denver for the 2021 All-Star Game.
