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Rookie Rogers goes 7 innings to help Miami beat Orioles 3-0

MIAMI — The Baltimore Orioles were eager to swing, and Trevor Rogers was happy to let them. Early contact helped Rogers pitch a career-high seven innings without allowing a runner past second base, and the Miami Marlins earned a split of the two-game series by winning 3-0 Wednesday. Rogers needed only seven pitches in the first inning and eight in the sixth. He recorded five first-pitch outs. “Trying to get strike one early played right into them being aggressive,” the left-hander said. “I attacked them with quality pitches and got some early contact. All of my pitches were working, and overall it was a good day." Rogers (2-1) allowed four hits and one walk while striking out eight, and lowered his ERA to 1.64 as he gained his third career win in his 11th start. The other two victories came against two-time Cy Young Award winner Jacob deGrom. “He’s a left-hander that throws from a tough angle," Orioles manager Brandon Hyde said. "The ball jumps out of his hand. He was attacking the strike zone on us, and you saw a lot of early outs. He had really good stuff today, and we knew that coming in.” Rogers threw 82 pitches to become the first Miami starter to go seven innings. He has both of the rotation's victories after posting a 6.11 ERA in seven starts in 2020. “This is a guy who really benefited from coming up last year and getting a few starts,” manager Don Mattingly said. “He really learned his lessons, and went to work and made some big strides. He has been very mature about the way he goes about it. And this guy’s stuff is really good.” Yimi García completed the four-hitter by pitching a perfect ninth for his fourth save in as many chances. The last nine Orioles went down in order. Jesús Aguilar broke a 0-0 tie with a two-out, two-run double in the fifth to knock out Bruce Zimmermann (1-2), who allowed three runs in 4 2/3 innings. Miami catcher Sandy León gave the offence a spark with two hits and went from first to third on a sacrifice bunt before scoring the first run on Aguilar's double. León was called up before the game to make his season debut. Adam Duvall drove in Miami's other run with a single and ranks among the NL leaders with 14 RBIs. The Orioles were shut out for the third time. They fell to 3-14 in Miami. AN EXTRA BAG When Baltimore third baseman Maikel Franco changed to field a sacrifice bunt, the 235-pound León kept motoring around second and beat three Orioles to third. “That’s heads-up baserunning there,” Mattingly said. “That should be a pretty good video — four guys chasing him across the field.” “I'm not that fast,” León said with a grin. “I saw no one was at third and I took my chance.” Zimmermann said he should have covered third. Hyde said it was catcher Pedro Severino's responsibility. TRAINER’S ROOM Marlins: 3B Brian Anderson (side) and 1B-OF Garrett Cooper (groin) sat out. THE NL EAST Marlins general manager Kim Ng said her team's division is baseball's best, and not just because of the Atlanta Braves. “I'm not sure there is going to be a clear runaway winner of this thing, because the quality of the entire division from top to bottom is very good,” Ng said. “That means we’re all going to beat up on each other all year long.” ROSTER MOVES Before the game, the Marlins placed C Jorge Alfaro (left hamstring strain) on the 10-day injured list, and selected León's contract from the alternate training site. They optioned RHP Nick Neidert to the alternate training site. UP NEXT Orioles: They begin a homestand Friday when RHP Jorge López (1-2, 8.56) starts against Oakland. Marlins: LHP Daniel Castano (0-0, 1.80) is scheduled to start Thursday to begin a four-game series at San Francisco. ___ More AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/MLB and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports ___ Follow Steven Wine on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Steve_Wine Steven Wine, The Associated Press