Rookie Messick flaunts All-Star stuff in Miami, takes no-no into 6th

MIAMI – Parker Messick admitted he may not have had his best stuff Friday night, but it was certainly good enough to help the Guardians cool off the red-hot Marlins at loanDepot park.

Messick went 5 1/3 innings without allowing a hit, and thanks to fellow rookie Chase DeLauter’s two-run homer in the fourth, he worked from a lead. It was a lead Cleveland held onto in a 3-2 win to start the final series before the All-Star break.

The Marlins had won six straight and 16 of their past 20 games. Cleveland snapped a four-game losing streak with a win against the Twins on Thursday afternoon.

“It was a lot of fun, and that’s the goal when the game is moving fast like that, getting some quick outs,” said Messick, who improved to 8-5. “That’s how you draw it up, that’s what you want. Obviously, the offense struck first, so that was good for us. I was just trying to go out there and throw as many zeros as I could.”

Messick did not allow a base hit to the Marlins until there was one out in the sixth with Cleveland holding a 3-0 lead. Heriberto Hernández snapped the no-hit bid and the shutout with one swift swing, hitting a solo homer to left to make it 3-1.

“This is another outing that really shows Parker’s growth,” Cleveland manager Stephen Vogt said. “Didn’t have great stuff, didn’t have great command. Yet he didn’t give up a hit for a long time. Didn’t get the punchouts like we’re used to, but got a lot of weak contact. We made some great plays in the field as well. Parker continues to get better and better each time.”

Added Miami manager Clayton McCullough: “We had a couple leadoff walks, but really just couldn’t string anything together there. I thought he was kind of effectively wild and has a wide arsenal. He did a good job keeping us off-balance.”

Miami ace Sandy Alcantara (10-5) cruised through the first three innings before Brayan Rocchio led off the fourth with a single. Rocchio trotted home when DeLauter hit his 10th homer of the season, this one a 430-foot shot into the right-field seats.

DeLauter’s 10 home runs before the All-Star break are most by a Cleveland rookie in the team’s first 95 games of a season since Bobby Bradley also had 10 in 2021.

“Electric stuff from him out there,’’ DeLauter said of Alcantara. “The main message was to really stay on that heater timing. Everything he throws is hard, so to be able to hit anything else, you’re going to have to be in on the heater. And that was it. Get a heater over the plate, get on it early.’’

The Guardians added to their lead in the fifth when Austin Hedges and Steven Kwan both singled; Hedges came home from third on a sacrifice fly to right from Travis Bazzana.

Messick, however, was the star of the night for Cleveland.

The Marlins, who had not only won six straight but are a Major League-best 26-9 since June 1, were able to create some traffic on the basepaths as McCullough noted.

In the fifth, Esteury Ruiz and Jakob Marsee walked with two outs, the threat ending on a nice play at first when DeLauter made a diving stab of a sharp grounder and quickly got it to Messick racing over to cover.

Messick went six innings, allowing one run on one hit with four walks and one strikeout. Alcantara went seven, striking out eight.

“Those are the games where I just have to go in and fill up the zone,” Messick said. “It just ended up working that way. I think in my last two starts, I gave up one run in both and did not feel like I had my best stuff. So, if I am able to do that, compete when I don’t have my best stuff, then you know I am in the right spot.’’

The Marlins tried to get on a roll once Messick was out of the game. Leo Jiménez got the second hit of the night for Miami in the seventh, taking Erik Sabrowski deep over the center-field fence.

Miami did get a one-out single in the eighth, but Cade Smith got his 28th save by setting the Marlins down in order in the ninth.

Smith getting Jakob Marsee to fly out for the final out of the game did finally settle down the large contingent of English soccer fans who were in town for Saturday’s World Cup quarterfinal up the road at Hard Rock Stadium — and certainly seemed to enjoy their night at the ballpark.

The festive chants and songs were welcomed by both the Marlins and Guardians.

“I’ve been here a number of years, and this is the best atmosphere I have seen by far,’’ Vogt said. “It was really neat to have some soccer fans out there, some baseball fans. It was a really exciting night, and the crowd made it a lot of fun.”