MIAMI — natoDon Mattingly had reason to be concerned that his team might not play well Tuesday.
The Miami Marlins held a team meeting pregame prior to their series opener against the Washington Nationals that lasted about 90 minutes. Mattingly initiated the meeting but multiple people, players primarily, spoke with the purpose of clearing the air on “a lot of little things that felt like the group needed to get out in the open and talk about.”
“I wouldn’t be surprised if we come out as flat as can be,” the manager said. “It wasn’t one of those rah rah meetings, I’ll give you that.”
The Marlins were anything but sluggish when they took the field about two hours after the meeting concluded.
They slugged four home runs and Edward Cabrera was masterful on the mound in their 12-2 win over the Nationals at loanDepot park.
Jazz Chisholm Jr. hit a grand slam, the first of his MLB career, to cap a five-run second inning and added a two-run homer in the fifth. It was his second career multi-homer game, with the first coming on Sept. 20, 2021, against the Nationals. He is just the third second baseman in Marlins history to record six RBI in a game, joining Dan Uggla (April 22, 2007) and Kurt Abbott (July 17, 1996).
Nick Fortes, who opened scoring with a second-inning single before Chisholm’s grand slam, then hit a three-run homer in the fourth inning, with Jorge Soler following up with a two-run shot later in the inning.
That was more than enough run support for Cabrera. The 24-year-old righty, ranked as the No. 47 overall prospect in baseball by MLB Pipeline, held the Nationals (21-36) to one run on two hits and two walks while striking out four in six innings of work. The only run he allowed was a solo home run to Luis Garcia in the sixth inning.
It followed up his six shutout innings against the Colorado Rockies on Wednesday in his season debut with the Marlins. Cabrera became the first pitcher in Marlins history to pitch at least six innings and allow two hits or less in each of his first two starts of a season.
Miami’s offense has also scored double digit runs in both of Cabrera’s starts this season.
Washington added a second run in the eighth against Louis Head.
It was just one game against the one team in the division with a worse record than them — a team the Marlins have now won six of seven games against.
But for this one day at least, the response was shown on the field after the team’s passionate in-house meeting. Whether it leads to a full turnaround remains to be seen.
The meeting, Mattingly said, was not about wins and losses — although the team expected to be much better than their current 23-30 record two months into the season. Rather, the manager said the focal point for the team-wide talk was to have a forum to discuss “any issues they had that they needed to talk about.”
“I wanted to get it out where it was spoken out loud,” Mattingly said. “Not whispered behind anybody’s back. Just get it out in the open. Talk about it.”
Mattingly didn’t disclose many details about the meeting other than that general manager Kim Ng and the coaching staff were present and that multiple topics were discussed.
But he also said he had “a feeling this one was going to last a while” and one he anticipated happening.
“The off day [Monday] was, for me, not a very good off day from the standpoint of when we have something that we need to talk about, with any kind of meeting like that, for me, you internalize,” Mattingly said. “And I know people see me a lot. I don’t react on the bench. I don’t want to be emotional on the bench at all. I’m not a yell and scream guy in the clubhouse or on the bench, but when something’s bothering me, it usually is in my stomach and I know what needs to come out. That’s as much as anything.”
What did Mattingly hope would be the end result of the meeting?
“I want the group to feel together as a group,” Mattingly said. “I’m not going to sit here and go into that, all the different things, but I wanted to get everything said out loud.”
They looked the part on the field Tuesday. Now it’s a matter of seeing if it’ll continue.
Injury updates
— Jesus Sanchez left Tuesday’s game in the second inning with upper back tightness. Bryan De La Cruz replaced him as Miami’s center fielder, going 1 for 4 at the plate and making a great catch in right-center field in the fourth inning.
—Third baseman/outfielder Brian Anderson (back spasms) underwent an MRI and is scheduled to follow up with a spine specialist on Wednesday.
— Right-handed pitcher Anthony Bender (lower back stiffness) is playing catch.
— Pitchers Jesus Luzardo (left forearm strain) and Cody Poteet (right elbow) are still not throwing
— Infielder Joey Wendle is reporting no soreness in his right hamstring.
