Marcus Stroman Steps Up in Win Against Marlins

With the injury bug taking its toll on the starting rotation, the Mets were going to need Marcus Stroman to bounce back from his tough last outing against the Tampa Bay Rays. Stroman has been terrific so far in 2021, but with Taijuan Walker joining the long list of Mets starting pitchers on the IL, the team won’t be able to afford Stroman being anything less than the top of the rotation starter he has been this year.

Stroman’s night got off to a shaky start. After getting two runs of support in the top of the inning, his first pitch of the game was lined to left field by Jazz Chisholm Jr. for a single. Stroman is known for being a quick worker on the mound, but with one of the league’s fastest runners on base, he was considerably slower. After a fly out to center from Miguel Rojas, Stroman, Tomas Nido and Francisco Lindor teamed up to catch Chisholm Jr. stealing second. A diving stop by second baseman Jose Peraza on a ground ball from Corey Dickerson got Stroman through the first inning facing the minimum.

The second inning didn’t start much better for Stroman. Adam Duvall led off the inning with a single, and Garrett Cooper followed with a ground-rule double to put runners on second and third with no outs. Fortunately for Stroman and the Mets, the Marlins were not able to capitalize. After Garrett Cooper struck out chasing a split-finger changeup, Sandy Leon hit a shallow sac-fly to center to get the Marlins within a run. Stroman followed with a strikeout of Magneuris Sierra to get out of the inning with the lead.

In the third, Stroman found himself in trouble once again. Marlins pitcher Ross Detwiler, who had not gotten a hit in the majors in eight years, led off the inning with a single. After falling behind 3-0 in the count, Stroman got some help from Chisholm Jr. chasing the 3-0 pitch before striking out. Rojas followed with a line out to center before Dickerson singled to put two runners on, but Duvall rolled over a ground ball to third base to end the inning.

The fourth inning was a relatively easy inning for Stroman. Anderson led off the inning by grounding out to Lindor. After a jam shot bloop single from Cooper, Stroman struck out Leon looking on a 3-2 slider with Cooper running, who was out by a mile at second base.

Stroman finally found his groove in the fifth. With 8-9-1 coming up in the Marlins’ order, Stroman struck out Sierra, pinch-hitter Jon Berti and Chisholm Jr. It was Stroman’s first 1-2-3 inning of the night.

In the sixth, Stroman kept rolling with a little help from Lindor. Rojas struck out chasing a split-change to begin the inning. Stroman followed it up by giving up a hard hit ball to Dickerson, but Lindor made the backhanded play in the hole to take a hit away. Duvall finished the inning with a fly out to center field.

Stroman went back out for the seventh with a short leash. Anderson was able to lay off a 3-2 split-change to start the inning with a walk, which led to Luis Rojas going to Miguel Castro. Castro’s first batter was Cooper, who hit a two-run home run to tie the game at 3 and close the book on Stroman’s night.

Stroman finished the night pitching six innings plus, allowing two runs on six hits and a walk while striking out eight.

While Stroman didn’t seem to find his rhythm until later in the game, he was able to navigate his way through the game mainly with the help of his new split finger changeup. As the game went on, he started to use his new pitch more and more. He threw 23 split finger changeups tonight, the most he has ever thrown in a game.

“I didn’t feel great honestly going into the game,” Stroman said. “I went into the game and I didn’t have that great of a feel for my sinker, so we kind of went to the changeup, and it played really well today. That’s a pitch that I sometimes don’t even throw at all in games, and I think I threw over 20 of them today.”

Most of Stroman’s success throughout his career has been a result of his sinker-slider combo being difficult for hitters to square up and do damage with. If he can make his split change a consistent plus pitch like it was on Friday in Miami, Stroman could potentially be the X-factor in this Mets rotation even after it gets healthy.

“If I can get that weapon going and get my sinker back to where it was, plus my slider, I can be pretty competitive against anybody,” he said.