Right-hander Janson Junk already had some MLB experience when he signed a minor league deal with the Miami Marlins earlier this year, but he had mostly struggled in those opportunities. Not only did Junk earn his way back to the big leagues—he has settled into a starting rotation spot. He has now completed a career-high six innings of work in back-to-back starts, this time receiving a solid amount of run support. The Marlins defeated the Cincinnati Reds on Monday by a final score of 5-1, notching their tenth straight road win.

It was an unusual start to Junk’s night as in the bottom of the second inning, he walked back-to-back hitters. Going into his start, he had only allowed two walks all season, so in the matter of just one inning, he doubled that number. In that same inning, there was a passed ball and wild pitch, which allowed Austin Hays to advance from first to third. The Reds got on the board first thanks to a sac fly from Tyler Stephenson, driving Hays in.

However, Junk regained his control after that. He gave his team six innings of one-hit and one-run ball, walking two and striking out three.

“It was just one of those days we were struggling with the grip in that one-run inning,” Junk said. “Spiking a lot of my sliders down and I kind of fell into that mold and that trust in it. Once I landed some fastballs, got the strikeout, I was able to get out of that.”

Junk also struggled with getting ahead in the count. He entered this game with a 74.8% first-pitch strike rate for the season, easily the highest mark among all Marlins pitchers. On Monday, it was all the way down to just 45%.

“Personally, I didn’t think I had the best stuff today overall,” said Junk postgame. “So it was pretty much recognizing that, accepted it and just dug deep and competed. I’ve had those endings where it unraveled, so I accepted where I was, how I felt and just did my best to be competitive in the zone.”

The bat of Agustín Ramírez has been a big factor during the Marlins’ road win streak. On Monday, he went 2-for-4 with two RBI. In the top of the fifth inning, Ramírez knocked in an RBI double, driving in Xavier Edwards. 

The “Gus Bus” was also involved in a close play at home plate when the next batter, Liam Hicks, singled to right field. It was a weird slide by Ramírez, but his left hand just snuck in before Reds catcher Tyler Stephenson placed the tag. The play was challenged by the Reds, but the original call stood, giving the Marlins a 2-1 lead at that time.

aapxw1_1.mp4

Ramírez later put the nail in the coffin by taking Reds reliever Brent Suter deep for his 14th home run of the season, extending the Marlins lead to 5-1. That was his 31st extra-base hit, which tied a franchise record set by Giancarlo Stanton in 2010 for most extra-base hits through 65 career games.

Ramírez has a .870 OPS on the road during his rookie season, compared to just a .644 OPS at loanDepot park.

With the win, the Marlins move to 41-48 on the season, remaining 7.5 games back of the third NL Wild Card spot. Eury Pérez will take the mound for Miami on Tuesday, and for the Reds, it’ll be Nick Martinez. First pitch from Great American Ball Park is at 7:10 pm.