5 key trends after Marlins silenced by Strider, Braves

ATLANTA -- There wasn’t an elephant inside the visiting dugout at Truist Park on Monday night, but the Marlins knew time was running out to avoid dubious history.

Braves right-hander Spencer Strider entered the seventh with a perfect game, but that bid dissolved once two-time Gold Glove-winning first baseman Matt Olson committed a fielding error on Jazz Chisholm Jr.’s grounder to open the inning.

With one out in the eighth inning of Miami’s eventual 11-0 loss to Atlanta, Jean Segura broke up the no-hitter with a single to left. The Marlins avoided being no-hit for the fourth time in franchise history and the first time since Nationals right-hander Jordan Zimmermann’s no-no on Sept. 28, 2014.

“Explosive fastball, really good slider,” manager Skip Schumaker said of Strider. “He has not only deception, but it's an explosive fastball. [He was] putting it where he wanted, and the slider was really good. He made it really tough on our guys. I was getting nervous for a minute there that he was going to go the distance and no-hit us because we didn't put too many good swings either on him. But Segura obviously broke it open a little bit there, and [Jon Berti]. But really, really good job by Strider today.”

Rather than rehash the lopsided result, here’s a look at Monday’s series opener and some season-long trends by the numbers:

-24 run differential vs. Atlanta and New York
This season, the Marlins are 2-6 against National League East rivals the Braves and the Mets, a pair of clubs that each finished with 101 wins in 2022. They have been outscored 44-20 in those eight contests.

Miami is 10-5 against everyone else (Minnesota, Philadelphia, Arizona, Cleveland and San Francisco).

0.78 feet off the ground
Segura, who had solid contact against Strider his first two times up (99.3 mph and 101.6 mph exit velocity, per Statcast) but nothing to show for it, blooped a slider below the zone (75.4 mph) in front of Eddie Rosario.

“He's a really good out-of-the-zone hitter,” Strider said. “So you don't really know where to throw it to him. I probably should have thrown it over the backstop. He's got pretty good hand-eye coordination."

Remarkably, that wasn’t the lowest pitch by a Marlins batter to go for a hit this season.

13 strikeouts for Strider
Strider recorded seven K’s on his four-seamer and six on his slider. Of his 101 pitches, just three were changeups.

“He's just got good stuff,” said Berti, who followed Segura’s single with one of his own. “He was attacking and knows how to use his stuff. Just felt like, especially with two strikes, it seemed like he made it even more difficult, [and he] made really good pitches out on the edges. And anytime a guy like that's not missing too much over the plate with that kind of stuff, it's going to be a tough night.”

Monday marked the 11th time in 23 games Marlins batters have recorded double-digit strikeouts. Before play ended for the night, that mark was tied for fifth most in the Majors.

32 percent first-pitch strikes for Cabrera
Command continues to be an issue for right-hander Edward Cabrera, who walked four batters in 4 1/3 innings. Three of those came after he landed awkwardly and tweaked his left knee in a fourth-inning at-bat against Ozzie Albies.

Following Albies’ strikeout, Marcell Ozuna walked and Sam Hilliard homered. Cabrera did another hop following his strikeout of Sean Murphy as he ended his outing after 96 pitches in the 5th inning.

“Not going to lie to you, sometimes I was thinking about [the knee],” Cabrera said via interpreter Luis Dorante Jr. “But I was trying not to think on every pitch, and I wasn't thinking every pitch. But yeah, it was in my head.”

Across five starts, Cabrera has walked an MLB-high 20 batters in 22 innings.

“We talked about first-pitch strikes, and then that's when you can get to Cabby's secondary [pitches]. And when he wasn't throwing first-pitch strikes, this is what happens, and that was kind of the story [being] behind in the count,” Schumaker said. “You do that against a good-hitting team, this is what it looks like. Kind of get back to the drawing board with Cabby, and build him up a little bit and let him know that he's a really good big league pitcher if he believes in it. But he's got to trust his stuff.”

94.9 mph changeup from Cabrera
Cabrera, whose 96 mph changeup garnered headlines last June, notched a season-high velocity on the pitch during a second-inning matchup against Ozuna.