The Marlins got another quality starting pitching performance, but Ryan Weathers did not receive enough help from the rest of the roster in the extra-inning loss.
Drafted seventh overall by the San Diego Padres in 2018, Ryan Weathers did not reach his potential with them. After posting a 5.73 ERA in 43 major league appearances (29 starts), Weathers was traded to Miami at the 2023 MLB trade deadline. He has grown a lot since then and showed it on Monday night, going 5 ⅔ innings pitched, allowing two runs (both unearned) on three hits, three walks and a season-high six strikeouts. His fastball topped out at 99.2 mph, a mark he never reached with his former club.
Unfortunately, Weathers’ great start was not enough for the Miami Marlins. Their offense went silent after taking an early 3-0 lead and the Padres battled back to walk it off in the bottom of the 11th by a final score of 4-3.
Weathers’ best pitch on Monday was his changeup, generating six whiffs and four punchouts with that pitch. Going into his start, he had thrown his changeup 29.5% of the time, making it his second-most-used pitch.
“You could see a lot of the empty swings and I think the fastball velocity, I think he did a good job of getting in on some righties at times—that kept the changeup open,” said manager Clayton McCullough following the game. “He was good again. This is how Ryan has been throwing. To come back and—especially, I’m sure, a lot on his mind coming back here and a lot of emotions going into that—to be able to channel it and stay within himself and just continue to make pitch after pitch was a really great outing.”
In the bottom of the fourth inning, Weathers began the inning striking out Manny Machado swinging and inducing a Gavin Sheets groundout. The Padres rallied with two outs. Xander Bogaerts smacked a base hit and stole second, marking his tenth stolen base of the season. Jake Cronenworth kept things going when he reached first on a throwing error by Marlins third baseman Connor Norby, marking his third error of the season. That permitted Bogaerts to advance to third. After Weathers issued his second walk of the game, the bases were loaded for former Marlins minor league signing José Iglesias, who hit a double down the left field line past a diving Norby and driving in two runs.
Weathers would remain in the game and hold onto a 3-2 lead by inducing a groundout. After a 1-2-3 fifth, he recorded two outs in the sixth inning, but was taken out in place of Jesús Tinoco. Former Marlin Luis Arraez entered the game as a pinch-hitter and flew out to Jesús Sánchez to wrap up the bottom of the sixth.
Through three starts in 2025 since coming off the injured list, Weathers has an outstanding 1.15 ERA. Overall as a Marlin, he owns a 3.75 ERA, nearly two full runs better than what he did during his Padres tenure.
The Jesús Sánchez leadoff hitter experiment continues to be a success for the Marlins. Sánchez began the game with a base hit into right field, setting up designated hitter AgustÃn RamÃrez for an RBI double, RamÃrez’s 17th extra-base hit. RamÃrez was driven in by Norby on an RBI single, giving Weathers a 2-0 cushion to work with.
In his second at-bat of the night, Sánchez took Padres starter Randy Vásquez deep for his third home run of the season. The ball went 417 feet to dead center at 111.0 miles per hour to make it a 3-0 lead.
Sánchez is slashing .273/.385/.545/.930 in nine games leading off against right-handed starters since Xavier Edwards was placed on the IL.
Trailing throughout the night, the Padres tied it up at three apiece when Manny Machado hit a solo home run off of Calvin Faucher in the eighth inning. It was Machado’s third homer in his last four games.
Victor Mesa Jr., who was called up prior to the game, took over as a defensive replacement in center field. His first at-bat didn’t come until the tenth inning, with an opportunity to put his team on top. After making a great but late swing at the first pitch, he fouled off the second pitch, putting him in a 0-2 count. He took the next pitch, then right-hander Jason Adam struck him out swinging on a slider away.
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Usually asked to pitch low-leverage situations, Tyler Phillips was surprisingly relied on not only to force extra innings, but to face the top of the Padres order in the tenth. He retired Fernando Tatis Jr., Jackson Merrill and Machado in order.
The Marlins went with lefty Cade Gibson in the 11th inning. After Gavin Sheets grounded out to second base, moving the go-ahead run to third, Gibson spiked a curveball for a game-ending wild pitch.
With the loss, the Marlins fell to 21-31 on the season. Max Meyer will toe the rubber against Stephen Kolek, brother of former Marlins first-round pick Tyler Kolek. Victor Mesa Jr. is also expected to start for the Marlins. First pitch is at 9:40 pm.