Rogers has his best start of '24 to earn 1st 'W' since April '23

DETROIT -- When Miami starter Trevor Rogers loaded the bases in the third inning on Wednesday at Comerica Park, it wasn’t a foreign situation. His troubles of late are well-documented, as is his frustration with the inability to work inside with his fastball.

Pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre jogged out to the mound for a pep talk, then back to the dugout steps, where manager Skip Schumaker leaned on the rail to see how the situation would unfold.

The Marlins needn’t have worried: Rogers sat down Gio Urshela on three straight swinging strikes to end the threat. And while Rogers will be the first to admit there’s still work to be done, the at-bat represented more than just one out in the books.

It was a sign that things are moving back toward normal.

“I think a couple starts ago, that thing turns into a crooked number, maybe,” Schumaker said. “So for him to get out of it with … at least one strikeout was huge for him and for us, and you can see the emotion coming off the mound.”

In total, Rogers struck out six across five scoreless frames and allowed just three hits in the Marlins’ 2-0 win over the Tigers in the series finale. It wasn’t the longest outing of the season but it certainly was the best, and perhaps more importantly, it gave Rogers his first win since April 14, 2023, against the D-backs.

“Just feeling that confidence on the mound and seeing the results of the work that I've put in [is rewarding],” Rogers said. “I think my fastball velocity was the most consistent and the hardest all game, so the fact that I'm able to hold that power into the fifth inning, and even more importantly, I had more.”

The confidence Rogers gained from Wednesday’s third inning was evident: He needed just 10 pitches during a flawless fourth and another 11 to handle the Tigers in the fifth. This was another big hurdle cleared: Rogers -- who made just four starts last season due to an injury -- had not had five scoreless frames to start a game since that game against Arizona.

One headline from that April 2023 game trumpeted, “In throwback teal, Rogers points to future: Marlins lefty shows what he can do when he trusts his stuff.” The victory was Rogers’ first that season as well, and his seven strikeouts across six-plus innings that night drew rave reviews from Schumaker.

So did Rogers’ confidence with working in the zone. A little more than one year later, Schumaker was all too happy to tip his cap once again.

Rogers said a mechanical tweak he’d been working on for the past couple of weeks finally clicked against the Tigers, and that being able to maintain his posture and extend were “a big part of the results today.”

Miami helped Rogers before he even took the mound. The Marlins jumped starter Casey Mize out of the gate, with Jazz Chisholm Jr. hustling to beat out an infield hit to lead off the game. The next batter, Bryan De La Cruz, smashed a knuckle curve a Statcast-projected 422 feet to straightaway center field to put the Marlins up, 2-0. The home run, De La Cruz’s team-leading ninth, is his longest hit of the year.

Those two hits marked the only ones Miami got off Mize. The Marlins didn’t connect again until Nick Fortes singled off reliever Will Vest with two outs in the eighth inning. Thanks to Rogers’ breakthrough outing and another solid performance by the bullpen -- Declan Cronin (1 2/3 innings), Andrew Nardi (1/3), Calvin Faucher (1) and Tanner Scott (1) combined to hold Detroit scoreless for the second consecutive game -- De La Cruz’s knock was all Miami needed to win its second series of the year (the Marlins swept Colorado in three games from March 30-April 2).

“We've had a lot of close games, heartbreaking games, tough losses, but credit to these guys, we haven't lost the clubhouse,” Schumaker said. “They still believe in themselves and believe in the team, and even after a trade and tough losses, the whole deal. They still believe that we have enough to win, and so do I.”

For Rogers, who entered the start with a 9.92 ERA over his previous four starts -- the last two of which lasted less than six combined innings -- Wednesday was a reminder that what he’d been capable of in the past is still very much in reach going forward.