Meyer stymies Braves as Marlins get first home win

MIAMI -- The Marlins’ recipe for success in 2023 relied on a strong starting pitching performance backed by clutch knocks and a lights-outs bullpen. Those ingredients were missing early in ‘24 but returned in much-needed fashion on Saturday.

Marlins No. 3 prospect Max Meyer struck out a career-high seven batters, Josh Bell went deep and Bryan De La Cruz drove in three in a 5-1 win over the Braves at loanDepot park. In the victory, the Marlins avoided matching a franchise-worst nine-game home skid to begin a season, set by the 1995 club at Joe Robbie Stadium.

“This is who we are actually,” De La Cruz said via interpreter Luis Dorante Jr. “You see the way we play out there as a unit. This is actually the way we play the game. This is what actually got us to the playoffs last year where we got so far. And that's what we're trying to emulate this year and try to make it happen again.”

Meyer, who tied Rangers right-hander Nathan Eovaldi for the most whiffs (23) in an outing by a Major League pitcher this season, completed six innings for the second consecutive start. He is the only Marlin to record a quality start in 2024. Three relievers followed with a perfect frame apiece.

The 25-year-old Meyer limited MLB’s top offense to just one run -- an RBI dribbler from Marcell Ozuna in the sixth -- and six hits. Meyer stranded a pair of runners in scoring position in the third by striking out Austin Riley and another in the fifth by fanning Ozzie Albies. He dominated Atlanta thanks to a heavy dose of sliders: 54 percent of his 91-pitch outing came on his breaking stuff, just shy of Royals righty Brady Singer on March 31 (54.1 percent, min. 50 total pitches).

“He threw a lot of breaking balls, a lot of sliders -- and it’s a power one,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said. “Changeup’s really good. I like his arm. That was an impressive outing."

If Meyer continues to thrive on the mound, he will make things difficult for Miami’s front office moving forward -- much like Eury Pérez did last year as a rookie. Meyer missed 19 months due to Tommy John surgery, so his workload was always going to be monitored.

The primary reason why Meyer, who had been optioned to Triple-A Jacksonville on March 12, made the Opening Day roster is because of injuries to Pérez, lefty Braxton Garrett and righty Edward Cabrera.

“This is what you're supposed to do,” manager Skip Schumaker said of Meyer. “When you get a chance, you're supposed to take it and run with it, and he's doing that. We had an idea that he was going to do this. Watching him in Spring Training, it was hard to send him down. And now here he is. He's going to make it really hard again. That's a really good thing.

“When you coach, you want to be missed when you're gone. If you're a player, you want to be missed if you get sent down or whatever it is, and he's doing just that. He is really good in the clubhouse. The mind works. He is navigating the game as good as we have in the clubhouse, which says a lot [only five starts into] his whole big league career. He already is special. He's going to be a really special pitcher.”

The Marlins’ offense provided Meyer more than enough run support. Bell crushed a middle-middle 94.2 mph four-seamer from southpaw Chris Sale, sending it over the left-field wall for a solo homer with one out in the first inning. The switch-hitting Bell entered Saturday batting .148 as a righty compared to .240 as a lefty this season.

Miami tacked on another run in the second when Avisaíl García and Emmanuel Rivera opened with singles. After Christian Bethancourt struck out with runners on the corners, Vidal Bruján singled to left for his first hit and RBI as a Marlin. Bryan De La Cruz provided insurance by clearing the bases with a two-out double in the fifth to give Miami a 5-0 lead.

Prior to Sale’s outing, Miami had scored just 12 runs (10 earned runs) in 46 1/3 innings against left-handed starters -- a collective 1.94 ERA for those pitchers in eight games (all losses for the Marlins).

“We know we look at the stats and all that,” said Bell, who was among the players taking early batting practice against left-handed outfield coach Jon Jay on Friday. “We know we have some work to do, and happy to see some results coming quickly.”