WASHINGTON — The 2022 MLB season is nearly three weeks old and no starting pitcher has been better than Pablo Lopez.
No Marlin has ever gotten off to a better start than him, either.
With a 0.39 ERA, Lopez has the lowest ERA through four starts in franchise history, edging out Dontrelle Willis, who opened the 2004 MLB season with a 0.71 ERA in his first four outings.
On Wednesday, Lopez fired six shutout innings to lead the Miami Marlins to a 2-1 win against the Washington Nationals. He gave up just three hits and a walk, and struck out six by mixing his full arsenal. He only threw 84 pitches.
Three of Lopez’s strikeouts came with the changeup — which is getting hitters to swing and miss nearly 50 percent of the time this season. Two of his strikeouts came with his four-seam fastball, including one against star outfielder Juan Soto with two outs and a runner on first in the bottom of the third inning. His final strikeout came with the cutter, getting Nationals third baseman Maikel Franco to swing and miss in the bottom of the fifth.
The starting pitcher threw all three of those pitches at least 12 times and his precision made him particularly effective, getting 16 called strikes, including two for strikeouts.
Lopez allowed two baserunner in a single inning just once, only let one player reach second base and set down the final seven hitters he faced after Washington outfielder Yadiel Hernandez gave him his biggest threat with a two-out double in the bottom of the fourth.
The 26-year-old Venezuelan kept Nationals Park’s sparse crowd of 13,356 almost entirely silent and helped Miami (9-8) win a game while scoring fewer than three runs for the first time since April 9 — the Marlins’ first win of the season.
Miami’s win gives the Marlins a winning record for the first time this year and they’ll try to finish off a three-game sweep in Washington on Thursday when they face the last-place Nationals (6-14) again at 1:05 p.m.
