Miguel Rojas credits a better Miami offense to going after fastballs early:
“As soon as we faced all those guys throwing really hard, I think it made us realize we’ve got to be ready for the fastball,” infielder Miguel Rojas said. “That’s exactly who we are as a team. As a team, we’ve got to be ready for the fastball because we’ve got a lot of guys here who can hit the fastball, so if we’re letting guys establish their pitch early in the game, and go 2-3 innings just with fastballs and then they start mixing up later in the game, that’s the recipe.”
MiamiHerald.com
Miami (14-31) began its winning streak with a four-game sweep against the New York Mets, then kicked off a seven-game road trip Tuesday with a 5-4, 11-inning win against the Detroit Tigers at Comerica Park. In the series-opening win, the Marlins piled up five extra-base hits for only the fifth time all year and nearly led wire-to-wire by pouncing on fastballs. To score its first-inning run in Detroit, Miami singled off a pair of fastballs by starting pitcher Spencer Turnbull. To score again in the second, the Marlins singled and doubled on fastballs by the starting pitcher.
They scored 18 runs in the last four games (through Tuesday) after scoring 17 in their previous ten games.
Of course, if going after fastballs early is good for the Marlins offense, teams will adjust to that. The Marlins players need to prepare themselves for that adjustment, or learn how to hit other types of pitches.