Marlins 22, Miami 2: Not Surprising

The Hurricanes played an exhibition game against the Miami Marlins on Tuesday. Unsurprisingly the Hurricanes lost the game, but it was a good chance for Miami to give players that haven’t gotten very much playing time a chance to play.

Since this was just an exhibition game here a few quick thoughts from the game today:

• It was great for Christopher McMahon to finally get his first game action for the Hurricanes. The promising freshman was limited to just 25 pitches due to his ongoing recovery from a torn meniscus, but this was a big step towards seeing McMahon more often throughout the season. McMahon was Miami’s best incoming pitcher before tearing his meniscus after slipping and falling, he’ll be a huge addition to Miami’s staff once he’s fully healthy.
• I liked the idea of trying to give Michael Mediavilla a chance to pitch today. He worked three and one thirds innings and actually held his own relatively well considering he was pitching against MLB talent.
• It was very frustrating that the Hurricanes had two errors in what turned out to be just a six inning game. Miami had been playing better in the field in the past few weeks, and they’ll need that to continue as we get deeper into the season.
• Miami also managed to put in a lot of freshman position players by the end of the game, and letting them get at-bats against high quality opponents will only help them grow and develop. Additionally it was nice that Miami didn’t use the bullpen at all, so they can stay fresh heading into tomorrow’s game vs FGCU.
• Notably, Willy Escala managed to hit an RBI triple in the game today. That is super encouraging considering the talent the Hurricanes faced, especially since Escala has been struggling so far this season.

Obviously it was somewhat disappointing that Miami lost as badly as they did, but frankly it’s ok, and it’s what we expected. It was an opportunity for Miami to put in some guys that haven’t had a chance this season, and it gave Chris McMahon a chance to get in some real pitching work, even though he struggled.

Tomorrow the Hurricanes will return to the diamond to play an important game on the road against FGCU. Daniel Federman will take the mound for the Hurricanes.