Trevor Rogers, with motivation back home, OK in return as Marlins rally to beat Phillies – Miami Herald

Before he threw his first pitch on Saturday, his first with the Miami Marlins in more than a month, Trevor Rogers crouched behind the mound and wrote three messages in the dirt.

“Mom.” “T.L.” “J.V.”

“Really just to put in perspective what I’m pitching for this last month of the year,” Rogers said.

Prior to Saturday’s 3-2 come-from-behind win over the Philadelphia Phillies, Rogers hadn’t pitched for the Marlins since July 31. He was away from the team completely for two weeks while dealing with a pair of family medical emergencies. Both his parents tested positive for COVID-19 and his mom, Colleen, was hospitalized and placed on a ventilator. She has since recovered. Both of his grandparents, Tommy Lawson and Jackie Vaughn, also passed away. He then spent the final two weeks of August building up his pitch count for his eventual return.

“It’s been tough,” Rogers said. “I told my mom I was gonna compete for her. She’s been fighting. She fought well and hard and she made it so I told her like ‘you wouldn’t want me to quit just like you didn’t quit,’ so I came back here with that on my mind and that I was gonna pitch for her and both my grandparents. Hopefully I did them proud.”

Rogers’ performance on Saturday: Two earned runs allowed on six hits and two walks (one intentional) with three strikeouts in 4 1/3 innings. Both runs he gave up came in the fourth inning.

“Not bad, honestly,” Marlins manager Don Mattingly said. “With what he’s been through over the last month, I thought it was pretty good outing. I think he got a little tired at the end, but in general, he threw the ball good. Probably a little rusty, but in general I thought pretty good.”

Saturday was just the fourth time this season Rogers did not complete at least five innings.

The 23-year-old left-handed pitcher, the Marlins’ lone All-Star Game representative this season and still a contender for National League Rookie of the Year despite the missed time, worked around a pair of two-out singles in the first and a one-out single in the second before recording a perfect third inning.

The fourth is when things unraveled.

Andrew McCutchen opened scoring with a one-out home run, sending an 0-1 fastball that was just outside the strike zone a projected 404 feet and into the lower level of AutoNation Alley in left-center field.

Rogers then issued a two-out walk to Didi Gregorious, had a throwing error on a pickoff attempt and gave an intentional walk to Ronald Torreyes before pitcher Ranger Suarez hit an RBI double that just stayed fair in left field to give the Phillies an insurance run.

Rogers gave up a leadoff single to Jean Segura in the fifth and got Bryce Harper to fly out to right before Marlins manager Don Mattingly made his way to the mound and took Rogers out of the game.

He threw 83 pitches, 55 of which went for strikes.

“Definitely a little rusty at first,” Rogers said. “Kind of got my feet underneath me a little bit. The ball was coming out really good. The fourth inning, I kind of just lost a little bit, going around the zone. Tip my hat to McCutchen. He hit a really good pitch, good height and good life on that fastball. He just got the barrel there and I just kind of nitpicked to the pitcher and he got some wood on it. Got to do a little bit better on that part and attack the strike zone a little more throughout the game. It was great to be back out there in that atmosphere and so great to be back again.”

The Marlins (57-79), who have jumped the Washington Nationals to get out of last place in the National League East, backed up Rogers by scoring three runs in the eighth inning. Lewis Brinson’s two-out, two-run home run that clanked off the foul pole in right field giving the Marlins the lead for good. Miguel Rojas, who had three hits Saturday, drove in the first run with an RBI single that scored Bryan De La Cruz. The bullpen threw 4 2/3 scoreless innings after Rogers left the game to secure the win.

“It was awesome,” Rogers said. “It was just completely momentum shifts. My hat’s off to the bullpen. They’ve done an unbelievable job this year, especially tonight. That lineup can get to you when it gets going. For them to just keep them locked down the rest of the game, my hat’s off to each and every one of those guys. And hats off to Brinson. That guy works harder than any guy I’ve ever seen. To see him have that success and get the ball out, I was happy for him and I was happy for this team with the way we fought today.”

The sentiment is mutual.

“He was away for a while with a family issue — family comes first — but I’m glad he’s back with us for this last month,” said Brinson, whose locker in the Marlins’ clubhouse is next to Rogers. “I was telling people early in Spring Training this is a guy to watch out for. You guys see what he’s doing his rookie year. Hopefully he can pull out the Rookie of the Year Award at the end of the year, but that guy is a bona fide future ace of this club. I love watching him pitch. I love him going out there having that dog mentality when he goes out there. It’s really fun to watch.”

And he has some extra motivation back home.

While his mom beat COVID-19, she still faces a long road back. Rogers said she started physical therapy and is improving but said “it’s a slow process.” She’s still on oxygen.

“It’s really testing her patience,” Rogers said, a slight smile showing, “but slow and steady wins the race. She’s gonna take it day by day. She’s doing a lot better.”

As for Rogers’ close to the season, he’s taking it day-by-day as well.

Rogers has a 2.52 ERA over 21 starts so far this season, the best among qualified rookies and tied for sixth among all starting pitchers who have thrown at least 114 1/3 innings.

Rogers also entered Saturday ranked in the top 10 among qualified rookies in strikeouts per nine innings (second, 10.55), batting average against (third, .212), walks and hits per inning (fourth, 1.13) and strikeouts per walk (ninth, 3.23).

“What a great year he’s had,” Marlins pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre Jr. said last month. “I know he got off to a hot start. His bumps in the road have been a little different. It’s been deeper counts and maybe a few walks, not that he’s went out and got banged around. Stuff comes and goes. Guys get tired and stuff backs up. He’s got to figure out how to pitch when he’s tired and he’s done that.

The Marlins tentatively planned to cap Rogers this season to about 175 innings. Considering how much time he missed, and that there are only 26 games are left in the season, Rogers is in no danger of exceeding that mark.

“As long as everything goes good physically, expect him to make his final starts,” Mattingly said. “We think it’s important for him to be able to finish out his year. You know he’s had success, but also he’s still a young guy and he’s still getting better and he’s gonna learn from every start. We saw that last year with him what he took into the winter. I’m sure he’ll still be processing the rest of the season.”

Rogers’ main goal for the season is simple: Do whatever it takes to help the team win and compete every five games when he gets on the mound.

But in the back of his head, he thinks winning Rookie of the Year is still possible.

“I would be lying if I said I’m not pitching for that,” Rogers said. “I want to compete for that and let it fall where it may. I’ve have had a good year and I want to I want to keep it on that trajectory and finishing this season strong.”