Marlins Announce Big Change To Pitching Plans Against Yankees on Sunday
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After opening the season 5-1 with series wins over the Colorado Rockies and Chicago White Sox, the Miami Marlins knew things were going to get tougher beginning this weekend against the New York Yankees in the Bronx.
They dropped the first two games, with a 9-7 loss on Saturday night being the toughest loss of the season, blowing a 4-0 lead. They will look to avoid a sweep on Sunday afternoon, weather permitting, and they have announced a change to their pitching plans at Yankee Stadium.
Marlins Closer Pete Fairbanks To Start Against Yankees
Before the final game of the series, manager Clayton McCullough said that closer Pete Fairbanks will start the game as an opener. He will go on the Paternity List on Monday to be with his wife as she is scheduled to be induced in the morning. Chris Paddack, who was slated to start, will pitch in the game at some point as well.
“With the rain delay, I wanted (Fairbanks) to get back with the birth of his child,” McCullough said. “If this was a normal start time, we would run things normally. We would have Chris start. With this (game) getting pushed back to potentially when it is going to happen, we want to get an inning or so out of Pete either way. He is going to be out of the mix for a few days, so we felt it was best to grab that early on.”
Playing a big part in the decision is the rain that is rolling through the Northeast on Sunday. According to Jon Heyman of the New York Post, the start time has been pushed back until at least 3 p.m. EST, if not longer. What complicates decisions like this is that this is the only series between the Marlins and Yankees this season.
If they have to cancel, finding a common date sometime during the season to make it up is difficult. That's the difficulty of playing a series this early in the season between two teams who won't see each other again.
Fairbanks was signed by the Marlins president of baseball operations, Peter Bendix, in December for one year and $13 million. There is $1 million in incentives that Fairbanks can earn in Miami this season.
He has been a big addition to the backend of the bullpen for McCullough early in the season. So far in three appearances before Sunday's start, Fairbanks has allowed one hit in three innings of work with five strikeouts and a pair of saves.
