Josue De Paula makes his major league debut on Friday night for the Dodgers against the Marlins at loanDepot Park in Miami. De Paula is the designated hitter, as expected, and bats seventh in his first game in the big leagues.
Right-hander Ryan Gusto starts on the mound for the Marlins. The lefty-hitting De Paula this season in Double-A Tulsa hit .314/.416/.600 against right-handed pitching this season, compared to .267/.351/.371 against southpaws.
At 21 years, 110 days old on Friday, De Paula is the youngest Dodgers player since Alex Verdugo on September 2, 2017, playing center field in both games of a doubleheader at Petco Park in San Diego on his second day in the majors. In the 2000s, De Paula is just the eighth Dodgers player 21 years, 110 days old or younger, along with Adrian Beltré (2000), Edwin Jackson (2003-04), Jonathan Broxton (2005), Clayton Kershaw (2008-09), José Peraza (2015), Julio Urías (2016-17), and Verdugo (2017).
Like De Paula, Gagné 27 years ago was the top Dodgers prospect at the time of his call-up, and joined the majors directly from Double-A.
Todd Hollandsworth took over in left field for Billy Ashley in the sixth inning, and grounded out to second base to end the seventh inning.
Antonio Osuna entered in the seventh inning with an 8-2 lead. He allowed a solo home run in the eighth inning and got two more outs in the ninth inning, coming one out shy of being the first Dodgers pitcher to record a three-inning save in his major league debut – Osuna would have been the eighth major league pitcher to do so – but had a rough final frame, allowing four runs as the Dodgers held on to win 8-7.