MIAMI—Not even 24 hours following a Cal Quantrill/Kyle Harrison pitching duel on Friday night, the Marlins and the Giants starting arms went for round two on Saturday afternoon. This time around, 2021 Cy Young winner Robbie Ray—who had been 7-0 this season—went mano a mano against Edward Cabrera, riding an excellent month of May and coming off a ten-strikeout performance a Sunday ago in Anaheim. The sequel featured even less scoring than the original, culminating 1-0 in Miami’s favor, with Javier Sanoja’s two-out RBI single in the second inning being the difference.
After falling into a bases-loaded jam in the first, Cabrera punched out Willy Adames and Mike Yastrzemski. That gave him momentum to nearly author his first quality start of his season.
“After I got through (the first inning), what I was thinking is, ‘once I get back, I have to attack. It doesn’t matter if they hit me, I just got to go out there and attack and get as many as I can,'” Cabrera told reporters postgame through translator Luis Dorante Jr.
Cabrera’s plan paid off, as the next 4 ⅓ innings were smooth sailing for the 27-year-old. Giants hitters mustered just three hits before a walk and a single forced Clayton McCullough to go to his bullpen, where Ronny Henriquez sat down Tyler Fitzgerald to end the frame.
The fifth-year arm generated plenty of swing-and-miss, as 25% of his offerings were whiffed on. Cabrera’s most-used pitch, the power changeup, was responsible for 8 of the 11 whiffs.
Most importantly for Cabrera—as seen throughout the entire month—the command once again was steady. He threw 18 first-pitch strikes to 24 batters faced. He issued three walks, though two of them were in two-out, bases-empty situations.
With another solid outing in the books, Cabrera finishes May with a minuscule 2.00 ERA with a 8/28 BB/K ratio. Suddenly, the full-season ERA sits at 4.17, an eye-popping improvement from his 7.23 April.
“He’s just executing all his pitches. He’s throwing everything for a strike. Everything looks really sharp. He’s throwing hard,’” said his catcher Nick Fortes. “His misses are competitive misses—there’s no spray. He’s just right around where he wants it to be so it makes it tough for them to make a decision.”
When asked if his recent stretch has been the most comfortable he’s felt in MLB, Cabrera answered, “Yes. I feel good. I feel healthy, which is the most important part—feeling great”.
Henriquez, Anthony Bender and Calvin Faucher followed suit out of the bullpen, forfeiting a combined two hits in the final 3 ⅓ innings.
“The pitching across the board was great. Cabby was terrific. His ability that first inning to navigate through and get through that unscathed was big for us. Ronnie coming in and getting a big punchout to end a threat, throwing up another zero. Bender as well, and then Faucher at the end. Those guys threw the ball great.”
Not to go unnoticed, Cabrera and Henriquez got serious assistance from outfielders Heriberto Hernández and Dane Myers, both of whom delivered incredible catches in the 4th and 6th, respectively.
Hernández took away what would’ve likely been a homer from Fitzgerald, tracking the deep fly ball all the way to the warning track before taking flight.
“I respect the pitchers when they’re grinding. I think that was the least I could do. You know, just run hard and try to do the best I could,” noted Hernández, playing in his second game in The Show.
Myers, on the other hand, sacrificed his body for a spectacular leaping catch to rob Jung Hoo Lee of extra bases, and more importantly, keep Miami in the lead.
Revisiting Ray, the 33-year-old thoroughly dominated outside of Sanoja’s knock, holding Miami to one additional hit in his seven-inning outing. Ray struck out nine, four apiece coming on his changeup and fastball.
Ryan Weathers is set to go for the Marlins on Sunday’s rubber match. He has allowed a minuscule two earned runs in his first three starts. Second-year righty Hayden Birdsong gets the nod for San Francisco. Birdsong started his sophomore campaign in the bullpen, but broke into the rotation following Jordan Hicks’ disastrous performance earlier this season. In two starts, Birdsong has been solid, punching out ten in 9 ⅓ innings of work. First pitch from “Spongebob Day” at loanDepot park is set for 1:40.