Miami Marlins pitchers have given up home runs in a club-record 19 consecutive games
Home runs are being hit in droves this season. No group likely understands that more than over the last three weeks than the Miami Marlins’ pitching staff.
After the Colorado Rockies’ Trevor hit a two-run homer off Hector Noesi in the second inning Saturday, Marlins pitchers have now given up at least one home run in a franchise record 19 consecutive games. It broke the previous mark set from Aug. 30-Sept. 19, 1998. The MLB record is 26, held by three teams and most recently tied by the Baltimore Orioles in June 2017.
The stretch began on July 29, when Arizona Diamondbacks’ Ketel Marte and Carson Kelly hit home runs in an 11-6 Marlins win and has continued through a three-game home set with the Minnesota Twins, two road losses at the Tampa Bay Rays, four losses at the New York Mets, a four-game series split at home with the Atlanta Braves, a three-game series loss against the Los Angeles Dodgers and into this road series against the Rockies.
The Marlins have gone 5-13 in this stretch, with 16 of those games coming after a frantic trade deadline period that saw the Marlins trade away four of their top pitchers in starter Zac Galen, closer Sergio Romo, starter-turned reliever Trevor Richards and late-inning reliever Nick Anderson. Miami has also been without two of its better starters in Jose Urena and Pablo Lopez in that stretch.
“In general, to me we’ve had a lot of injuries since the trade deadline,” Marlins manager Don Mattingly said. “When we take three guys out of our bullpen and replace them, everybody has to move up the line. It is what it is right now, but it’s really a matter of, all the times we give up homers, it’s usually making mistakes.”
The overall numbers in the span, as of the sixth inning Saturday:
▪ 52 home runs by 34 players. The long ball has been responsible for 81 of opponents’ 123 runs — 65.9 percent — in that span.
▪ 28 home runs in 11 games at Marlins Park, half of which came in a three-game series against the National League-leading Dodgers. The Dodgers had a six-homer performance on Tuesday, a single-game record at Marlins Park and tied for the most the Marlins have ever given up in a single game.
▪ 27 of the home runs traveled an estimated distance of at least 400 feet, with nine projected as going farther than 425 feet.
▪ 15 pitchers gave up at least one home run. Six pitchers have given up at least five home runs in that span: Elieser Hernandez (7), Noesi (6), Caleb Smith (5), Jordan Yamamoto (5), Jose Quijada (5) and Wei-Yin Chen (5). In fact, only one pitchers on the Marlins’ active roster has not given up a home run in this span: Tyler Kinley. Adam Conley gave up his first in this run with a solo shot to Ryan McMahon in the sixth inning on Saturday.
▪ 16 home runs had an exit velocity of at least 105 mph.
▪ 15 multi-home run games, including the last six consecutive games.
▪ 12 players hit multiple home runs against Marlins pitchers, with the Braves’ Ronald Acuna Jr. leading the way with four home runs by himself. The Mets’ Pete Alonso and Michael Conforto, the Dodgers’ Corey Seager and the Rockies’ Ryan McMahon each hit three home runs against Marlins pitching in this stretch.
▪ Six games featured multiple home runs allowed in a single inning.
The Twins’ Max Kepler and Eddie Rosario hit home runs three at-bats apart against Alcantara in the fifth inning of a 7-4 Twins win on July 31.
The Mets hit three homers off Jeff Brigham in the seventh inning of their 5-4 win on Aug. 5 to sweep a series-opening doubleheader on their way to a four-game sweep at Citi Field. Jeff McNeil and Michael Conforto each hit homers off Quijada in the seventh inning of their 7-2 series-clinching win over the Marlins on Aug. 7.
The Dodgers hit back-to-back home runs in both the fourth and seventh innings of their 15-1 win over the Marlins on Tuesday. Justin Turner and Max Seager each hit a second-inning home run against Hernandez in Wednesday’s 9-1 Dodgers win.
The Rockies hit back-to-back homers in the seventh on Saturday against Wei-Yin Chen.
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