If Edward Cabrera‘s performance over his past three starts was building towards something, that “something” may have been what he did on Sunday in Anaheim.
Relying heavily on a sharp-breaking curveball instead of his routinely mid-90s changeup, Cabrera struck out 10 over 5 ⅔ scoreless innings in the Marlins 3-0 win over the Angels to earn his long-awaited first win of the season. Of his 18 whiffs generated on the day, 11 came via the curveball.
Cabrera now owns a 2.53 ERA in four starts this May. With the win, the Marlins improve to 7-7 lifetime at Angel Stadium.
“It was good as I’ve ever seen him…He had a good run there where he was getting a bunch of punchouts,” noted Clayton McCullough.
One of those runs for Cabrera saw the right-hander punch out four consecutive Angel hitters. In 40 innings pitched this season, the 27-year-old has averaged 9.7 strikeouts per 9.
Facing Kyle Hendricks, the owner of a career 2.17 ERA in nine starts against them, the Marlins tagged the 2016 World Champion for three runs in his six innings of work. One of those three came via Connor Norby‘s sixth hit of the weekend set, continuing a month of May that’s seen the Marlins third baseman OPS north of .800.
Highlighting the 3 ⅓ scoreless frames from the Marlins bullpen was Ronny Henriquez, who worked a 1-2-3 bottom of the ninth to earn his first career save. Henriquez demonstrated his versatility this weekend, picking up the win on Saturday when he entered a 1-0 game in the fourth inning and faced the heart of the Angels lineup.
“With the combination of stuff and strike-throwing, he’s got the ability to get swing-and-miss, especially with the fastball at the top of the zone,” opined McCullough when asked about potentially seeing the diminutive righty in future high-leverage situations.
Henriquez’s 12.4 K/9 is the best among relievers with at least 25 innings pitched this season.
The Marlins find themselves at 21-30 and two games out of fourth place in the NL East entering Memorial Day. They have quietly gone 6-4 over the past 10 games.
Looking Ahead
The Marlins will continue their tour of the Golden State on Monday when they open up a series against the San Diego Padres. Ryan Weathers (1-0, 1.80 ERA) will look to improve upon his first start against his former club, allowing five runs over 3 ⅓ innings back on 8/21/23. Randy Vásquez (3-4, 3.49 ERA) is projected to oppose him for San Diego.
First pitch from Petco Park is slated for 8:40 EST.