The Miami Hurricanes were happy to see a healthy Chris McMahon on the mound regardless of the score.
Despite falling 22-2 in an exhibition game against the Miami Marlins March 27 at Marlins Park, the Canes got to see their highly anticipated freshman pitch in his first game this season since tearing the meniscus in his left knee in January.
McMahon, who was the No. 100-ranked prospect heading into the 2017 MLB First-Year Player Draft according to MLBPipeline.com, gave up five runs while on a pitch count of 25. He is expected to compete for a starting spot in coach Jim Morris’ weekend rotation once he gets readjusted to game action.
Marlins top prospect Lewis Brinson led off with a home run in the game’s first at-bat, and the Fish kept rolling from there, scoring 20 runs in six innings.
The Hurricanes had a strong offensive showing by Michael Perez and Willy Escala. Perez got a hit and scored a run in his appearance at the plate.
Escala hit an RBI-triple in the third inning off Marlins starter Dillon Peters, and while heading to third, he reached a speed of 29.4 feet per second – the MLB average is 27.
On defense, sophomore Daniel Rivero was the only Hurricane not to give up a run, throwing a perfect inning with one strikeout. Senior Michael Mediavilla pitched 3 1/3 innings, giving up nine runs – five earned.
The Marlins were led by Garrett Cooper and Tomas Telis on offense. Cooper totaled two hits and four RBIs, while Telis had two hits and two RBIs.
Peters went 4 2/3 innings, giving up two runs on two hits and striking out seven Hurricanes.
The Hurricanes head back to their regular schedule against Florida Gulf Coast University (18-5) at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, March 28, in Fort Meyers.