Braxton Garrett throws first big league shutout, leads Marlins past the Diamondbacks 3-0
By DAVID BRANDT (AP Baseball Writer)
PHOENIX (AP) — Braxton Garrett outdueled Arizona ace Zac Gallen for his first career shutout, Otto Lopez hit a two-run single and the Miami Marlins beat the Diamondbacks 3-0 on Friday night.
The Marlins have won eight of 11 after starting the season 10-31.
Garrett (1-0) had easily his best outing since his return from a shoulder injury that sidelined him the first 1 1/2 months of the season. The lefty cruised through the majority of his outing, giving up just four hits while striking out six.
The 26-year-old came into the game with a 10.24 ERA over two starts and watched that number fall all the way to 5.30 after nine scoreless innings.
“It’s awesome — I wasn’t expecting to do that today,” Garrett said. “But I did expect to start trending upwards. The lines in my last two games weren’t great, obviously, but I felt like there was a lot of good in the middle of those games.
“It was just about putting it all together.”
Not only was it Garrett’s first MLB shutout, but his first complete game. He threw 95 pitches, retiring Christian Walker on a long fly ball to center for the final out. After Jazz Chisholm Jr. made the catch, Garrett had a broad grin as he walked toward home plate to give catcher Nick Fortes a hearty handshake.
The Marlins have leaned on their pitching during their recent surge, throwing five shutouts over the past nine games.
Lopez gave Miami a 2-0 lead in the second, hitting a hard grounder up the middle that scored Jake Burger and Jesús Sánchez. Burger pushed the advantage to 3-0 in the fourth with a no-doubt solo homer to left that traveled 441 feet and hit off the facade of the second deck.
“We got a couple pitches that we could do something with and we executed on them,” Burger said. “That’s the (plan) with aces around the league. If you get a pitch to hit, you’ve got to execute. If not, they’ll eat you alive.”
Burger and Lopez had two hits apiece and Nick Gordon hit a double.
Gallen (5-4) wasn’t at his best, but managed to get through seven innings, giving up three runs on eight hits and a walk. He struck out five.
“Felt OK in the first, but then from the second to the fifth, I was just kind of grinding out there,” Gallen said. “Didn’t feel particularly sharp. … Just trying to do my job, keep us in it and give us a chance to win.”
Arizona’s Ketel Marte had his hitting streak stopped at 21 games after going hitless in four at-bats. Rookie Blaze Alexander had two of the team’s four hits.
The game took just 1 hour, 58 minutes.
UP NEXT
The D-backs will start LHP Jordan Montgomery (2-2, 4.98 ERA) on Saturday night while the Marlins counter with RHP Sixto Sánchez (0-2, 6.41 ERA).
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