Marlins rookie starter Justin Nicolino was excellent in his outing against the Pirates on Thusday. The young left-hander allowed two runs on six hits over six strong innings. He struggled a bit with his command, as he walked four and struck out just one. But it was still an impressive outing against a strong offense.
Nicolino was stuck with a hard-luck loss however, as the Marlins were unable to do much against Gerrit Cole. The Marlins were defeated by a score of 2-1.
Nicolino (2-2, 3.65 ERA) allowed a run to score in the second inning, and then served up a solo home run to Pedro Alvarez in the fourth. That was all the damage done against the rookie, as he was able to limit the scoring despite the control issues.
The youngster has been impressive lately. He has allowed exactly two runs in each of his last three starts, pitching into the eighth in his last two. But he has just one win over that three-start stretch.