Rogers keeps impressing: 8 K's, 1st career hit

Pitching in the eighth inning for the first time in his young career, Marlins left-hander Trevor Rogers tried to remain calm on the outside but fiery on the inside as he let his competitive juices flow.

Rogers, who entered the frame at 88 pitches, was focused on adding another gem to his already impressive rookie season. He walked the leadoff batter and permitted a two-strike single before inducing his third double play of the game. With a runner at third and Andrew McCutchen at the plate as the tying run, manager Don Mattingly turned to closer Yimi García for his first career four-out save.

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García did so by the slimmest of margins, as Rogers earned his sixth win of the season and Brian Anderson homered on his birthday in a 3-1 victory over the Phillies on Wednesday night at Citizens Bank Park.

“It's a little bit of uncharted territory for me,” said Rogers, who finished with 98 pitches. “I definitely wanted to finish it, being really selfish. Wanted to get through that, but walked that first guy. Just can't happen. Felt really good still, had a lot left in the tank and really wanted that, and fortunately I got a ground ball to get two outs. I kind of knew with McCutchen up that was probably it for me. Still felt really good, still commanded the ball well, got my outs when I needed to.”

Aside from a McCutchen solo homer in the sixth, Rogers was in control in his return to the site of the worst outing of his career. On Sept. 11, 2020, he surrendered nine runs (eight earned) over three-plus frames. Since then, the 23-year-old southpaw has a 2.34 ERA in 12 regular-season starts.

On Wednesday, Rogers walked the first hitter he faced before getting a double play. He fanned eight batters and scattered five hits across 7 2/3 innings. Rogers also got it done at the plate. When his spot came up with two runners on and nobody out in the seventh, Rogers pulled back a bunt attempt and slapped the ball past charging third baseman Alec Bohm for his first career hit.

Rogers entered Wednesday with the fifth-lowest ERA among qualified MLB starters, and he lowered it to 1.74. The rookie ranked 11th for National League starters with a 1.3 WAR. Following his outing, Rogers said he had his best three-pitch mix (four-seamer, changeup and slider) of the season.

“He's a special arm,” said Phillies right-hander Zach Eflin, who had the ninth-best WAR. “A really young kid, he keeps his composure out on the mound. He's one of those guys that's fun to watch. We'll see how it all pans out, but he's got some good stuff."

Here’s a look at Rogers by the numbers:

• 7th -- left-hander since 1982 to reach 100 strikeouts in his first 16 career starts

• 43 -- strikeouts on the four-seamer this year, most among Major League pitchers

• 76 2/3 -- innings for Rogers to reach 100 career strikeouts, third fewest in Marlins history, according to the Elias Sports Bureau

• 104 -- strikeouts through his first 16 career starts. In the live ball era, only Herb Score (123), Fernando Valenzuela (115), Al Downing (113) and Francisco Liriano (111) have more K’s by a lefty in that many starts.

Mattingly is no stranger to having a front-row seat to stellar pitching performances. During his time managing the Dodgers, he watched Clayton Kershaw, Zack Greinke and Hyun Jin Ryu work magic on the mound.

"This has obviously been impressive," Mattingly said. "Again, I've been talking about Trevor so much from spring on, and just the whole package of what he's doing. You feel comfortable that he's just not going to all of a sudden relax and quit working. He just kind of stays down the road, he's pretty even-keeled, he's never really too excitable. Over the long haul, I hope it's great. Obviously the start's good, but it's one of those things -- some guys you may worry that they're going to take their foot off the gas -- but you don't feel like that way with Trevor. We'll just have to let him keep rolling and see what he does the rest of the year.”