The Miami Marlins came away 4-2 winners on Thursday over the Detroit Tigers in a game started by Jacob Turner, who is expected to be in the starting rotation.
Turner has had a rocky spring so far but looked better on Thursday, going four innings in which he allowed one earned run on four hits according to the official box score. He also walked a batter, hit a batter and was charged with a wild pitch. The win was credited to Turner who improved to 1-1 in the Grapefruit League to go along with a 4.32 E.R.A.
There was one area that Turner continued to struggle in – strikeouts. With none in this game, the righthander only has two strikeouts in his 8.1 innings on the spring.
After Turner exited, the Marlins brought in top prospect Andrew Heaney, who went three solid innings of his own. Heaney, who has an outside chance of making the team for Opening Night, allowed no runs on one hit, and struck out one to lower his E.R.A to 2.35 this spring. While it remains likely that the Marlins send Heaney to the minor leagues at some point in March, he is being given an opportunity to show that he is ready now.
The Marlins brought almost their entire regular lineup on the road for this one which is a rare sight in the spring, especially with over two weeks to go. That lineup put together 10 hits with four of them being doubles. Those two-baggers were picked up by Marcell Ozuna (4), Jake Marisnick (2), Garrett Jones (1), and Adeiny Hechavarria (3). Marisnick also singled, stole a base and knocked in two runs to continue a torrid month for the 22-year-old. Coming into the spring, Ozuna was expected to win the centerfield job but Marisnick has been producing more thus far and could ultimately steal the job.
Miami will play under the lights on Friday against the New York Mets in the team's first night game of the spring. Tom Koehler is set to make the start for the Marlins.
