Rojas, Cooper homer as offense erupts

MIAMI -- It's that time of year when organizations begin to formulate plans in regards to their immediate future. Manager Don Mattingly laughed when those stakes were brought up following the Marlins' 11-2 victory over the Nationals on Friday night at loanDepot park.

"Talking about the Trade Deadline, right?" Mattingly said. "Yeah, absolutely. It's something they think about, they understand it. I think we all understand it. I do think it's something that guys will think about, and we do need to get it going."

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Mattingly's ballclub did so in snapping a four-game skid, as Miguel Rojas and Garrett Cooper homered and Pablo López went six innings. Miami had scored just five total runs during its losing streak, which began last Sunday. That succeeded a two-game stretch in which the club scored 21 runs in Chicago.

Before the game, the Marlins (32-43) held a meeting to discuss what’s on the line. After Friday's victory, they are nine games back of the first-place Mets (39-32). The club has 52 games remaining within the National League East. The halfway point of the 162-game season will be next Friday in Atlanta.

"Just know that we're good enough to be here, good enough to be in this division, win this division," Cooper said. "We come out, we win that game. We've had a few games where a couple bad [ones] rolls into the next game. We've won a few games in a row, the next one we lose. ... We're trying to be a little bit more consistent, a little more aggressive. I think we've been a little more passive lately offensively, especially with runners in scoring position. And you've just got to focus a little bit more in those situations."

Friday was a good step, as Rojas knocked a three-run homer in a four-run first inning against Jon Lester, then ripped an RBI single in the third. It has been a week since Rojas was reinstated from the IL after he missed 18 games with a dislocated left index finger. He had gone 3-for-24 with one extra-base hit, one walk and four strikeouts.

Cooper, meanwhile, reached base four times in his return from a lumbar strain that sidelined him for 16 days. He doubled twice, homered and walked from the third spot in the order, giving first baseman Jesús Aguilar a breather. That was more than enough support for López, who retired the final 10 batters he faced after needing 60 pitches to get through three frames.

“It needs to be that sense of urgency, of winning every single game, every single pitch, every single at-bat, baserunning, every single battle,” Rojas said. “You have to win every play so you can be a contender in this division. For me, it's not too late to start thinking about it that way. And if we're not going to make it, we have to show some fight. Looking forward to continuing to do that, and just fight every single day. Sometimes we're not going to score runs. We're going to try to be aggressive, and it's not going to happen. But at the end of the day, that's the mentality that you want to have.”

But with just more than a month until the July 30 Trade Deadline, there is uncertainty as to the future of several veterans with expiring contracts, Rojas and Aguilar included. Miami's unequivocal leader, Rojas has a mutual option for the 2022 season and a $500,000 buyout. Aguilar has one remaining year of arbitration eligibility, while Starling Marte will be a popular target among contending teams since he can become a free agent this winter.

Rojas said for the Marlins to get over the hump, they need to be aggressive and finish. While the starting pitching entered Friday with the fifth-lowest ERA in the Majors (3.23 ERA), the offense ranked 28th with 3.9 runs per game, ahead of the Mets (3.7) and the Pirates (3.6). Miami has the confidence of Mattingly, who has 40 years of experience in baseball. Though the Marlins had only a 1.7 percent chance of reaching the postseason, per Baseball-Reference, they also went into Friday's game with a 38-36 pythagorean record -- suggesting they're better than their actual mark.

“What stage we are right now, makes you open your eyes,” Rojas said. “And the thing is, we know as a team we're not where we want to be right now. We have some more time left to show everybody and to show the organization that we want to be able to compete for this division, and we still have confidence in this club right here, and it's not time just to throw the towel and say, ‘OK, this is where we're going to be at the end of the year.’ We have some time left, but the thing is that we have to start showing some fight, and not just for a day or two. We need to be able to bounce back whenever these bad things happen. Like, we lose three in a row, we can't lose four. That's the way that we have to start thinking, especially on the road. We haven't been able to stop the bleeding.”