Junk (5 IP) steps up after quick hook of Quantrill

ANAHEIM – It’s not often that a reliever throws more innings than a traditional starter in a win, but that’s exactly what happened in the Marlins’ 6-2 victory over the Halos on Saturday night at Angel Stadium.

While right-hander Janson Junk tied a career high with five innings to snap Miami’s three-game skid and end the Angels’ eight-game win streak, it was manager Clayton McCullough’s early hook of right-hander Cal Quantrill that stood out.

With the Marlins ahead 1-0 in the fourth, the Angels began making hard contact against Quantrill. Zach Neto led off with a double (99.2 mph exit velocity), Nolan Schanuel lined out (91.2 mph) and Yoán Moncada singled (107.5 mph) to place runners on the corners.

That’s when McCullough pulled Quantrill after just 46 pitches and turned to right-hander Ronny Henriquez to face Taylor Ward. It marked just the fourth time in 133 career starts Quantrill was taken out with fewer than 50 pitches thrown.

“He was rolling through there, and he was pounding it, and did [his] job I felt like tonight,” McCullough said. “And just thought at that juncture in the game, while being early, was going to be aggressive there with Ronny and try to keep it with where it was at. I thought he did a terrific job there for the stretch that he was in.”

Ward produced a game-tying sacrifice fly, but Henriquez struck out Jorge Soler to keep the score tied at 1. The Marlins recaptured the lead in a two-run fifth, then extended it on Connor Norby’s three-run homer in the seventh.

Junk, who made his MLB debut with the Angels on Sept. 5, 2021, and had his contract selected from Triple-A Jacksonville on Saturday, took over in the fifth and went the distance in a 68-pitch outing. He became the first pitcher in Marlins history to pitch five-plus relief innings and finish a game in which Miami won.

“Communication before the game was clear on my role today,” Junk said. “My offspeed was working well, my hard slider was working well, working fastball off that, just getting ahead of guys and attacking them. It's easy when our hitters can give us a lead like that to just feel comfortable out there and confident and attack the zone.”

Was this the plan all along?

“Junk being up here, who's been built out and done well, that does provide some length. We knew we had the build-up and the pitches to do that, and then as he went along, let the game state kind of decide how we would maybe pivot from there,” McCullough said.

Could we see more of this moving forward due to the roster construction? Junk joined righties Valente Bellozo and Tyler Phillips as pitchers with starting experience who are working out of the bullpen.

“I don't know if that's going to be a recipe, something we're going to look to do each and every game,” McCullough said. “I think each one is kind of its own with where you're at, with the bullpen, where we're at in the schedule. I felt like tonight we had a lot of options to go to and that we'd gotten to a point early-middle of the game, where it felt like maybe that could be a turning point.”

What are the possible side-effects of this strategy?

Miami signed the veteran Quantrill to a one-year, $3.5 million contract to eat up innings alongside ace Sandy Alcantara for a young rotation. He had been pitching well of late.

How can the organization get buy-in from any starter – whether it be Quantrill or a less-experienced pitcher – if he is getting pulled this early? How can they massage the decision? What is the message?

“None of these guys are going to be happy, or should be,” McCullough said before Quantrill declined to speak to the media postgame. “They work hard between starts to get ready to go out there, and go as far as they can. So [I] appreciate when guys want to keep the ball and want to keep going. Again, I just feel like [the] best chance for us to win the game tonight was where we were in that moment.”