Lost in the shuffle of Monday night's 8-0 win over the Brewers at American Family Field was the performance of another Marlins rookie pitcher.

Right-hander Jordan Holloway didn't allow a run in the eighth and ninth to finish off the series opener, giving him five scoreless innings through three outings this season. Of his 17 batters faced in 2021, six have struck out, one has walked and another has singled. On Monday, the 24-year-old reached 98 mph on his four-seam fastball, and it averaged 96 mph. Holloway recorded four whiffs and six called strikes among his 29 pitches (20 strikes).

According to MLB Pipeline's scouting report, Holloway has grades of 70 and 60, respectively, for his fastball and curveball on a 20-80 scale. But his developing slider has become his most-used pitch in the early going. Most importantly, his previous lack of control (6.3 BB/9 at High-A in 2019) hasn't surfaced so far.

Once working with a 1-2 fastball/curveball combination, Holloway now has the following pitch mix:
• Slider: 52.8% (0-for-11 with four strikeouts)
• Four-seam fastball: 36.1% (1-for-4 with two strikeouts)
• Curveball: 11.1% (0-for-1)

With Elieser Hernandez and Sixto Sánchez sidelined and Nick Neidert optioned, the Marlins recalled Holloway on Thursday and added him to the bullpen. In 2020, Miami's No. 22 prospect made the expanded Opening Day roster, but he recorded just one out in an appearance before the COVID-19 outbreak. Perhaps Holloway's usage could be a precursor of things to come. Though the organization has stated it still sees him as a starter, his late-inning potential has been on display.

"This was huge for him to finally get to playing. He's throwing more strikes now, he's continuing to work with [pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre Jr.] and the group, and then take it out there against big league hitters," manager Don Mattingly said. "So huge. It's kind of like what happened with Trevor [Rogers] last year. He gets to come up, he gets his starts, has some success, gets beat up some, but now he knows what he's dealing with.

"And the doubt is gone, can go the way of, 'What is this league compared to where I've been?' And so this is great for Jordan, and it's going to be great for [infielder José Devers], too. You don't know how long this goes or what happens when everybody's back, but it's good for him, and to see what he's dealing with and know as he's doing his work what he's working towards and what he's going to have to deal with when he gets here."

Back with the squad
Isan Díaz , who lost out on the second-base job to Jazz Chisholm Jr. in Spring Training, joined the Marlins on Tuesday as part of the taxi squad. With third baseman Brian Anderson going on the injured list last Thursday to open the 10-game trip, the club called up the 21-year-old Devers from the taxi squad despite never having played above the High-A level. Jon Berti has started all seven games in Anderson's absence. Rojas, Chisholm, Berti and Devers are the only middle infielders on the active roster.

He said it
"Milwaukee means a lot to me. They were the team who really gave me the chance to be a Major Leaguer. I'm going to be thankful my whole career for that. I spent a really good time over there. I've got a lot of friends over there. That was good; now I've just got to keep going. That's the game, that's the business." -- Jesús Aguilar, on returning to Milwaukee, where he was an All-Star in 2018