MIAMI, FL—Another trade acquisition from the 2024 deadline joined the Marlins ahead of game three of a four-game set against the Philadelphia Phillies. Adam Mazur, who was one of four players acquired from the San Diego Padres in exchange for Tanner Scott and Bryan Hoeing, made his Marlins debut as a spot starter. While there were positives from his performance, Mazur allowed the Phillies to take control with a fourth-inning rally as the Fish fell by a final score of 4-2.
Mazur gave the Marlins 5 ⅔ innings of work, allowing four runs on four hits (one home run) and four walks, also striking out five. He threw 97 pitches (59 for strikes). In the top of the fourth inning, Mazur surrendered an RBI single to former Marlin J.T. Realmuto, and with runners on second and third, second baseman Bryson Stott took Mazur deep for his fifth home run of the season, giving the Phillies a 4-0 lead.
Outside of that inning, it was a solid outing for the 24-year-old. His fastball averaged 94.8 mph and topped out at 96.8 mph. His slider, which is known to be his best pitch, generated six whiffs and he used it for four of his strikeouts. He ran into some trouble in the top of the sixth inning, walking Stott and allowing a base hit to Brandon Marsh. He was taken out after that.
“Felt good,” said Mazur. “Got through the first three well and was competing. Then lost a little bit there in the fourth and made a big mistake pitch in a big situation. Obviously want that one back, but overall was happy with how I battled and even with runners on, was able to minimize the damage.”
Mazur previously made eight MLB starts for the Padres last season. That experience taught him he should “attack” hitters more often this time around, Mazur said.
Historically, Mazur has a career 1.8 BB/9 in the minor leagues. However, his ability to limit the walks still is not translating to the Major League level—he posted a 5.6 BB/9 as a Padre and walked four on Wednesday, which would’ve marked a season high for him in AAA.
“The stuff was very good,” said Marlins manager Clayton McCullough. “I think it allowed him to be a little more scattered than he would like with some of the walks there. I thought he used his secondary pitches well with the sweeper, the harder breaking ball. The fastball had good life at the top of the zone. It was a really good stuff across the board.”
For Mazur, this felt like a second Major League debut. It was with a new organization that wanted to trade for him last season, so a lot was riding on this start for the righty.
“There’s definitely a little more nerves, but it felt good,” said Mazur. “It was nice to get back out there.”
It isn’t yet clear how the Marlins plan to fill out their rotation moving forward with Sandy Alcantara, Eury Pérez, Edward Cabrera and Cal Quantrill already in place. Long reliever Janson Junk is a strong candidate for the final spot, which may lead to Mazur going right back down to Jacksonville.
In the bottom of the fifth inning, Connor Norby snapped a 19-game homerless streak, taking Phillies starter Ranger Suárez deep for his fourth home run of the season. It is only the third home run allowed by Suárez this season and Norby took him 415 deep to dead center, cutting the Marlins deficient to just three, trailing 4-1.
Suárez, who entered Wednesday’s game with a 2.32 ERA, threw seven innings of one-run ball, striking out eight and only allowing four hits. “He just has the ability to pepper the bottom of the strike zone with the sinker and the changeup,” said McCullough. “The ability to throw the two-seamer in on righties and have it work back over the plate, especially getting some counts and be able to dart that ball in there after having guys hanging out over, having eyes out over the plate. Tough to square up and he doesn’t make a whole lot of mistakes in the middle of the plate.”
The Marlins made it interesting in the bottom of the ninth against Matt Strahm, beginning the inning with a Heriberto Hernández double. Dane Myers then drove him in on an RBI single. After the second out of the inning, Jack Winkler extended the game by singling for his first career hit.
With the loss, the Marlins drop to 29-43 on the season and will look to split the series on Thursday with Edward Cabrera toeing the rubber against Christopher Sánchez. First pitch is at 6:40 pm.