Takeaways from Miami's Loss to the Los Angeles Angels on Monday Night

For the third time in five games, Miami had a lead that they weren't able to hold in the late innings.

Miami Marlins starting pitcher Max Meyer delivers a pitch against the Los Angeles Angels on Monday, April 1st / Rich Storry-USA TODAY Sports

The Miami Marlins continue to be shut out of the win column on the 2024 season, dropping Monday night's series opener against the Los Angeles Angels by a score of 7-4. It's the first time in franchise history that the team's started a season 0-5.

Here's what you need to know from the contest:

The offense linked up early

With starter Max Meyer making his first MLB appearance since 2022 after losing most of the last two years to Tommy John surgery, the offense decided to give him some early run support. Miami put up four runs in the first inning, sending all nine batters to the plate. It was done via "small ball" - there were no home runs and only one double, with the Marlins mostly working station to station, using three base hits, a walk, a fielder's choice, and a catcher's interference to bring in their three runs.

Jake Burger's first-inning RBI gave him at least one in each of the first five games of the season, tying 2003's Iván Rodríguez for the fourth-longest streak in team history, behind the seven for Cliff Floyd (2001) and Giancarlo Stanton (2014) and Jorge Cantú's ten in 2010.

Meyer acquitted himself well

Meyer was initially optioned to AAA Jacksonville late in spring training, but the team reversed course and called him up after injuries to several starters prompted a need for quality innings in the rotation.

And "quality innings" is exactly what Meyer gave the Marlins, going five innings with two runs allowed on two hits, walking two and striking out four. Meyer allowed eight hard-hit balls but gave up exactly one home run, Mike Trout's second on the season, which came in the 3rd inning.

In his first start back, Meyer went 79 pitches, throwing 46 for strikes. Angels hitters whiffed seven times on their thirty-one swings, with five coming on the slider and two on the changeup. It was good for a 28% CSW - slightly below the MLB average, but a respectable showing from the youngster Meyer.

Max Meyer's Nasty Sliders. 😨

2Ks in the 1st. pic.twitter.com/HzywqAUiTe

— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) April 1, 2024

When it doubt, it's better to have power in your lineup

The Angels tied the game up by the sixth inning thanks to three homeruns, including back to back bombs from Nolan Schanuel and Mike Trout (his 2nd of the game) after Meyer was lifted for reliever George Soriano.

We've discussed at length how the margin for error is slimmer for the Marlins on offense without that ability to launch a homer at any time, but the margin for error with the pitching staff is similarly slimmer when facing a team with a good power hitter that can tie the game up with one or two well-timed blasts.

Miami got their leadoff hitter on base in six of the night's nine innings, but brought that runner around to score only one time. Given the state of modern pitching, especially from flamethrowing relievers, it almost feels easier to get one home run than to string together three consecutive hits, but Miami just doesn't have the power bats in the lineup to make that a viable strategy.

Mike Trout - Los Angeles Angels (3)
pic.twitter.com/3GXVREoK1z

— MLB HR Videos (@MLBHRVideos) April 2, 2024

Miami's gotten NO offense from their catchers

Across now five games of the season, the duo of Nick Fortes and Christian Bethancourt have combined for zero hits in sixteen plate appearances, with each catcher getting on base once on the season (walk for Bethancourt, HBP for Fortes).

Bethancourt did pick up an RBI in the 9th inning of game two, grounding out to Pirates pitcher Josh Fleming and allowing Tim Anderson to score from third, a run that took it from a 7-1 game to a 7-2 game...but it's still not great.

Why so many blown leads?

The Angels loaded the bases in the 7th inning, eventually scoring the winning run thanks to a double play ball hit to Luis Arraez at second base that he initially bobbled and had to settle for just the play at first. It's the third time in five games this season that Miami's had a lead in the later innings and it was eventually lost.

There's a few reasons why Miami has been significantly worse than last season at winning one-run and/or extra innings games, but they're not satisfying.

The first is simple - regression to the mean. Going 33-14 in one run games and 7-3 in extra innings games in 2023 wasn't going to be reliably repeatable this season. We're seeing the randomness inherent in those situations play out in a small sample here in 2024.

But the other part of this is known issues - the lack of catcher offense, the lack of homer power, or the poor infield foot speed and their poor defense. In close situations, a single deficiency can swing a game or a situation toward the other team, and we've seen it time and time again already in 2024.

What's next for the Miami Marlins?

The Marlins continue trying to pick up their first win of the season on Tuesday with a Taco Tuesday-themed night in loanDepot Park. First pitch is scheduled for 6:40 PM ET with a battle of lefties - Jesús Luzardo taking on Tyler Anderson.