Muñoz makes Marlins history with first MLB victory

MIAMI -- Over the weekend, one reporter asked Marlins president of baseball operations Peter Bendix whether he intended to address the pitching depth being tested early on by injuries.

Five players are sidelined on the starting staff alone: Sandy Alcantara, Eury Pérez, Jesús Luzardo, Braxton Garrett and A.J. Puk.

“Unfortunately, that's something that is the case around the league and that we knew was going to be the case,” Bendix said. “It will be opportunities for guys to step up, right? There's going to be opportunities for Sixto Sánchez here to get some innings. We saw what [Roddery Muñoz] could do. We're going to have guys with that opportunity, and it's up to them to take it.”

One day after Sánchez showed progress in his second start since 2020, Muñoz collected his first Major League win in Wednesday night’s 4-1 victory over the Rockies at loanDepot park, as Miami won consecutive games for the first time this season.

Muñoz, who was recalled from Triple-A Jacksonville prior to the game, recorded a quality start by allowing just one run on three hits and two walks to go with seven strikeouts across six innings. It marked only the sixth time a Marlins starter has completed six frames in 2024.

“Pretty good arm,” Rockies manager Bud Black said. “The thing that was a little bit surprising -- a lot of balls in the strike zone. His ball-strike ratio was great. I knew that, coming in -- through our scouting report -- he can be a little erratic, and he wasn't.

“Good live fastball, but I think the pitch that got us was a little cutter and the slider -- his breaking ball. We swung at a few, and it was pretty sharp, the live fastball that kept us honest. But the cutter and the breaking ball were legit. He's got a good arm.”

Through his first two Major League starts, Muñoz has given up three runs on five hits and three walks across 11 innings with 14 strikeouts. He joined the late José Fernández as the only pitchers in franchise history to have 13-plus strikeouts and a sub-0.75 WHIP across their first two games with the team. His 14 strikeouts are tied for second most through a player’s first two MLB starts, with both coming for the Marlins.

According to Baseball Savant, hitters are slashing .111/.172/.148 with eight strikeouts and two walks against Muñoz’s fastballs (four-seamers, sinkers and cutters). His slider is even more effective in a smaller sample: Batters are hitless in six plate appearances ending on the pitch, with four strikeouts.

“It feels good,” Muñoz said via interpreter Luis Dorante Jr. “It's great to be back with the team. I'm very thankful to God and I'm just here ready to help the team.”

But Sánchez and Muñoz weren’t the only ones given opportunities to prove themselves.

After pinch-hitter Dane Myers added insurance with a two-out, two-run single in the eighth to extend the lead to three, manager Skip Schumaker went with rookie Anthony Maldonado rather than closer Tanner Scott in the ninth.

Scott, who recorded the final out of the eighth, had appeared in three straight games. Pair that with the longer bottom half of the frame and Schumaker’s gut told him not to send the southpaw back to the mound with five months remaining in the season.

Maldonado, ranked as Miami’s No. 18 prospect by MLB Pipeline, tossed a perfect ninth on 13 pitches.

“I'm blessed to be here,” said Maldonado, who became the first Marlin to get a start and a save within his first three MLB appearances. “Whatever role they have for me, whatever situation they put me in, I'm going to be ready and do my best to help the team.”

On the same day Muñoz and Maldonado dealt, Miami received encouraging news on two pitchers: Luzardo should throw a bullpen in the coming days, while Garrett tossed five scoreless innings in a rehab start for Triple-A Jacksonville.

Barring any setbacks, Schumaker will soon have decisions to make.

“It all works out,” Schumaker said. “We were trying to figure it out in Spring Training, right, and then five guys go down and it was like, ‘Who are we going to have?’ So it's a luxury if you have all these guys. You want all of them healthy, you want to have tough decisions, and then you figure it out. …

“That's what you want. You have depth. Your depth's being tested, and then it gives guys opportunities, so you never know what's going to happen -- and for not only this year, but for their career. So it's so far so good with those guys.”