The first pitch was at 4:12 pm on Opening Day at Marlins Park.
It was clocked at a 94.4 mile per hour fastball that was called a strike and thrown by Miami Marlins starting pitcher Jose Urena.
The season has officially begun.
The atmosphere was fresh noticeably in the outfield wall which is now navy instead of a garish green, and a tiered, standing-room-only area has replaced the widely disliked home run sculpture while the statue is relocated outside the stadium.
The scoreboard had a fresh, modern look with a touch of the new Marlins colors or “Our Colores.” Along with runs, hits, and errors, the acronyms MVR are read on the scoreboard; it stood for the mound visits remaining per team.
There were microphone-audio issues when marketing promotions were being announced to start. Again, the Marlins season has begun.
Marlins hosted the Colorado Rockies; Kyle Freeland was on the mound for the Rockies for his first opening day start.
The left-hander allowed two hits and one run in seven innings, and Colorado beat the Marlins 6-3 Thursday.
The Marlins use, “our colores,” for the Rockies Freeland was “en fuego” translation, on fire. Last season with a breakout 17-win season in 2018, Freeland kept the fire going into the start of the new season retiring his first 11 batters before Starlin Castro lined a single. The only other hit Freeland allowed was a pinch-hit home run by J.T Riddle leading off the sixth inning.
Offensively the Rockies went fishing in the 4th inning. The Rockies scored four times with the help of two errors. And boo birds were flying courtesy of the Marlins fans.
“Jose hung in there,” Marlins manager Don Mattingly said. “I think after he got hit, it took some wind out of his sails. You could see it as the game went on.”
David Dahl who had three hits and scored twice, hit a line drive off Urena’s left calf in the second inning, prompting a visit to the mound by Miami’s trainer. Urena went on to allow six runs, four earned, in 4 2/3 innings.
Miguel Rojas made a wild throw to first and center fielder Lewis Brinson let a single go through his legs as he searched, allowing a runner to score from first.
The mistakes happened in front of an opening day crowd of 25,423. And it was not in a win. Marlins are off to a 0-1 start for the fifth consecutive year.
The beat goes on, as RHP German Marquez is scheduled to start Friday for the Rockies against RHP Trevor Richards.
