The Miami Marlins finally completed a deal with the San Diego Padres to acquire the two-time hitting champion, Luis Arraez, on Saturday morning. Before facing the Oakland Athletics again in the afternoon, the visiting Marlins must now reassemble. With the deal still pending, Arraez was a late scratch from the starting lineup in Friday’s series opener. The Marlins lost 3-1, but the defending National League hitting champion was allowed to stay in the Miami bench in full uniform because the trade was not official. Without a sure, Miami manager Skip Schumaker would have utilised Arraez off the bench in the eighth or ninth inning as the Marlins tried to overcome a 3-0 hole. After Vidal Brujan’s double scored them a run, they stranded the bases loaded in the eighth with no one out. Then, in the ninth, they drove home the possible tying run. The Marlins ended a seven-game homestand that saw four straight defeats send the team to an NL-worst 6-24 before the winning streak began. This was the team’s first loss following three straight victories over the Colorado Rockies. Arraez led off and finished with a team-best.299 average after registering two doubles, two singles, and two RBIs in the three victories. Shortly before the game, Schumaker tore up the Friday lineup card, putting Dane Myers in the leadoff spot and asking Otto Lopez, who was batting sixth, to replace Arraez at second base. In four plate appearances, Myers reached base twice with a single and a walk, while Lopez left after going 0-for-2 to pinch bat. Schumaker expressed his optimism that the upcoming weekend will be different, but he described it as “human nature” that his squad would experience an emotional setback upon learning of a deal at the last minute. “The initial shock factor is definitely real,” he stated. “We’re paid to win games and be professionals, so we’ll see if that goes away in a few days or on Saturday. But you sense it when a man like him is up for trade.” Trevor Rogers, a left-hander (0-4, 4.31 ERA), will be looking for more offensive help on Saturday after providing none this season, even with Arraez in the lineup. In his previous five starts, Rogers has allowed his teammates to score five runs altogether. Against the A’s, the 26-year-old has never lost. He has actually only made two career starts in California, in 2022 at San Diego and in a pair of 3-2 losses at San Francisco. The A’s Paul Blackburn (2-1, 3.34 ERA), a right-hander who has struggled in his last three outings, will face Rogers. Blackburn had an outstanding start to the season, throwing 19 1/3 innings of scoreless ball. But in his last three games, he has allowed 13 runs and 18 hits to be scored against him. In his career, the 30-year-old has only faced the Marlins once, in Miami in June, where he lost 7-5 after giving up five runs in five innings. In a game where he gave Garrett Cooper a three-run home run, he was not given a decision. The Oakland A’s (16-17) are within one game of.500 for the first time since Opening Day thanks to a season-best five-game winning streak; yet, Oakland manager Mark Kotsay stated that none of his players are keeping an eye on the standings. “We’re not getting wrapped up in the overall record,” he stated. “We simply want to go into each game ready to win. The team’s main goal is to improve daily by preparing for it.”
