A Brutal Sixth Inning Cost Miami Another Game Against No. 8 Florida
The Miami Hurricanes are dealt another bad day at the plate as they drop another game to No. 8 Florida.
Moreover, a costing decision by coach J.D. Arteaga in the sixth inning left the Hurricanes in a hole they could not climb out of.
It started well against the Gators. Miami’s pitcher Hugus Griffin has been spectacular to start his Hurricane’s tenor. He did allow a home run and was in a scary situation in the fourth inning, but he powered through and found a way to get out of it.
He finished the day with 10 strikeouts and five innings, a 2.12 ERA, allowing four hits, and giving up two runs.
The issue came after the Canes went to the bullpen. Griffin is already in the mid-90s of his pitch count and Arteaga has stated that he doesn’t want his pitchers to go too far early in the season.
He proceeded to burn through four pitchers after that similar to how they did Friday night. The same issue as last year with the depth of the bullpen is still in question. Outside of the starters, Miami doesn’t have the arms they need in the bullpen to match what the starters are giving.
Then goes the batting in big games. the Hurricanes are not been the best-hitting team early this season. Some of those early games in the season scores were a bit inflated. A lot of errors from opponents that won’t happen with the Gators.
Daniel Cuvet might be at the start of his sophomore slump but there are still plenty of games to get out of this bad funk he is in. He did hit a home run but it was a little too late for when they needed a momentum-swinging play. Dorian Gonzalez Jr. had an RBI as well.
The Hurricanes now have an early idea of the type of team they have. How will they react and bounce back now? They still have another chance to give the fans in Coral Gables some hope. Brian Walters looks like a good arm too in rotation and the bats could come alive against the Gators. The series is lost but a win is still a good building block for the future of this season.
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Justice Sandle is a graduate of Mississippi State University and is the site lead for Miami Hurricanes on SI. He can be reached at justice.sandle111@gmail.com or follow him on Twitter@Justice_News5.
