Quick reactions as Miami Marlins fall in 12 innings to Pittsburgh Pirates on Opening Day

The Miami Marlins on so many occasions last season found ways to gut out wins late in games. It’s a big reason why they made an unexpected playoff berth in Skip Schumaker’s first season as manager.

They had their opportunities to make that magic happen again to start the 2024 campaign but fell short in a 6-5, 12-inning loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates 7-6 in 12 innings on Thursday at loanDepot park.

The Marlins (0-1) have now lost four consecutive Opening Days.

The defeat came after Miami blew a three-run lead after turning the game over to the bullpen following five strong innings from Jesus Luzardo in his first Opening Day start. The Pirates scored twice in the seventh and tied the game in the eighth.

Tanner Scott held Pittsburgh (1-0) off the scoreboard in the ninth and Declan Cronin did the same in the 10th and 11th before the Pirates scored the go-ahead run in the 12th on a Jared Triolo two-out bloop single to right that scored Ke’Bryan Hayes, who began the inning on second base.

“We have 161 left,” Schumaker said. “There’s a lot of stuff to improve, but I’d say that after a win, too.”

Here are five takeaways and reactions from the game.

Clutch hitting was a struggle

The Marlins went 2 for 17 with runners in scoring position, stranded 10 runners and hit into three inning-ending double plays — including in both the 10th and 11th innings when they had an automatic runner on base.

Schumaker said he liked a lot of the at-bats in those situations but also noticed that hitters may have been rushing to make a play.

“If they’re aggressive in the zone, I’m totally OK,” Schumaker said. “There was some weaker contact early on with runners in scoring position. Maybe remembering the pitcher’s in trouble and that type of thing [would help], but it’s Game 1. If we keep taking good at-bats and score five runs a game, I think we’ll be OK.”

Jesus Luzardo can handle the pressure

Thursday was a big day personally for Luzardo. He was making the first Opening Day of his young MLB career in front of his hometown crowd and with at least 65 friends and family members in the stands.

He wasn’t as sharp as usual, but Luzardo worked through spotty command to produce an effective Opening Day start.

Luzardo struck out eight over five innings. The eight strikeouts are tied with Kevin Brown’s 1997 performance for the third-most strikeouts on Opening Day in franchise history.

Josh Beckett (2004) and Jose Fernandez (2014) are tied for the franchise record with nine strikeouts on Opening Day.

“A lot of adrenaline, a lot of nerves, a lot of emotions,” Luzardo said, “but after the first couple innings, I felt like I settled in and was back to the game that I’m used to playing.”

Both Pirates runs against Luzardo scored on a two-run home run from Bryan Reynolds on a sinker above the strike zone.

Of Luzardo’s 85 pitches thrown, 51 landed for strikes. He induced 18 whiffs on 39 swings from Pirates batters — including 10 on 13 swings against his slider. He needed 21 pitches to get through the first inning before settling in.

Jazz Chisholm Jr. shows aggressive approach on bases

In each of his first two plate appearances on Thursday, Marlins center fielder Jazz Chisholm Jr. provided a glimpse of just how big of a threat he can be offensively. He showed a poised approach at the plate and then was aggressive on the basepaths to help generate runs.

Chisholm led off the second inning with a nine-pitch walk, fouling off three consecutive full-count pitches to stay alive, then moved from first to third on a Jake Burger single up the middle before scoring on a Jesus Sanchez groundball that never left the infield.

In the third, he scorched an elevated Mitch Keller fastball to right-center for a double and then scored on a Burger two-run single to shallow left.

Defensively, Chisholm also made a diving grab on a Connor Joe fly ball in the eighth that ultimately helped save a run.

Elsewhere offensively...

▪ First baseman Josh Bell reached base in each of his first four plate appearances, hitting a pair of singles while also drawing a walk and getting hit by a pitch.

▪ Burger had three hits, a sacrifice fly and a team-high three RBI. He is the 10th player in franchise history to have at least three hits on Opening Dya and the first since Dee Strange-Gordon in 2016.

Sixto Sanchez shows promise in his MLB return

After three trying years including a pair of shoulder surgeries and his share of setbacks in between, right-handed pitcher Sixto Sanchez finally returned to an MLB mound on Thursday.

And while he gave up a game-tying home run two pitches into the outing, Sanchez rebounded with three consecutive groundouts to end the frame.

His fastball topped at 98.2 mph, and his changeup was effective.

The last time he pitched in the big leagues before Thursday: Oct. 3, 2020, when he started Game 3 of the Marlins’ National League Division Series matchup against the Atlanta Braves.

A mixed bag overall from the bullpen

In an ideal setting, however, Schumaker didn’t have Sanchez planned to pitch the eighth inning.

After Luzardo only went five innings, Schumaker’s hope was for George Soriano to pitch two innings to get to the back end relievers.

That didn’t pan out, with Soriano getting just one out in the sixth and forcing Schumaker to pivot.

Andrew Nardi entered and got back-to-back strikeouts to strand three and keep Miami’s 5-2 lead intact before giving up a solo home run and a single in the seventh. Anthony Bender then pitched the rest of the seventh and allowed an inherited runner to score.

That set up Sanchez to pitch the eighth and get the game to Scott in the ninth.