The Miami Marlins ushered in a new chapter on Friday night at loanDepot park, as recently recalled right-hander Ryan Gusto took the mound for his Marlins home debut against the Toronto Blue Jays. The start came just one day after Miami’s rotation underwent a shake-up, with veteran Cal Quantrill being claimed off waivers by the Atlanta Braves. Gusto, acquired from the Houston Astros at the July 31 trade deadline, was immediately thrust into the spotlight, eager to prove he belongs in the Marlins’ rotation for the long haul.
Gusto’s outing was a rollercoaster, marked by early trouble and flashes of promise. The top of the first inning quickly tested the rookie, as Toronto’s Daulton Varsho ripped an RBI double to open the scoring. Ty France followed with a two-run single, putting Miami in a 3-0 hole before many fans had settled into their seats. Gusto’s pitch count soared to 29 in that opening frame, and the pressure was on. Yet, as Marlins manager Clayton McCullough noted, "Overall, his stuff was good and you saw a good fastball he used. It's a deep mix with the cutter, sweeper, threw some changeups right-on-right, which is going to be a good pitch for him moving forward."
Indeed, Gusto’s arsenal was on full display. He mixed six pitches throughout his 90-pitch outing: a four-seam fastball (33%), cutter (19%), changeup (14%), sinker (12%), sweeper (11%), and curveball (10%). Despite allowing five runs on seven hits and a walk over six innings, Gusto failed to record a strikeout—a rarity for a big league starter but not entirely surprising given Toronto’s bat-to-ball approach. "I would definitely love some strikeouts to be on that line as well," Gusto admitted postgame. "I think that I was a little bit too uncompetitive with some of my two-strike offerings. I think that they're a good bat-to-ball team. They were seeing the ball well, sticking to their plan that we talked about and I think that I had a lot of weak contact in two strike counts and to me, that's still a win."
After the rocky first, Gusto and the Marlins battery—catcher Liam Hicks and pitching coach Daniel Moskos—huddled to adjust their strategy. Gusto explained, "So [I] sat down and talked to [pitching coach Daniel Moskos] and [catcher Liam] Hicks a little bit after that inning about what we wanted to do to be ... more unpredictable, and be able to beat what we thought their gameplan was. And so I thought we did a really good job of that, until ... the one pitch in the sixth [to Varsho], I really wish I could have back."
For much of the middle innings, Gusto found his groove. He induced a pair of double plays—key to escaping jams and keeping the Marlins within striking distance. "When you get a guy on first base with less than two outs, you’re pitching for a double play," he said. "You’re trying to execute pitches in a way that’ll get that ground ball, so I was really happy that that worked out in my favor those couple of times." Miami’s infield defense didn’t let him down, turning slick plays and giving the rookie confidence to keep attacking. "It’s kind of sick. I’m new to the team, to these guys, but watching them make the plays that they made tonight definitely gives you a lot of confidence to just go out there and keep executing, and attacking and throwing strikes, because you know the guys behind you are going to make the play. So that is a really big boost there."
But the Blue Jays’ offense was relentless. In the sixth, Varsho struck again, crushing a 423-foot home run—his 14th of the season—off a Gusto cutter. That two-run shot extended Toronto’s lead to 5-1 and capped Gusto’s night. Still, McCullough found positives in the performance: "Ryan came up, gave us six innings and unfortunately, in first and sixth, there was two-out base hits to cash in their runs. In totality, you look at it from a stuff perspective and and how well he got into a rhythm there in the middle part."
On the other side, the Marlins’ bats ran into a buzzsaw in Shane Bieber, who was making his first MLB start since April 2024 after Tommy John surgery. Acquired by Toronto at the trade deadline, Bieber was dominant—striking out nine, allowing just two hits and one run over six innings, and issuing no walks. He threw 87 pitches, 55 for strikes, and at one point retired 12 consecutive batters. Toronto manager John Schneider couldn’t contain his excitement, declaring, "I'm a Belieber. I've got Bieber Fever."
The lone blemish on Bieber’s line came in the second inning, when Miami’s Javier Sanoja worked a ten-pitch at-bat before launching his fifth home run of the season. "It was a great at-bat," McCullough said. "Bieber pitched a nice game. Had really been cruising at that point and Javi just kept spoiling pitches, kept fouling off and got something elevated and put a really good swing on it. We've seen that a lot from him this year—just the ability to stick his nose in there and spoil pitches battle."
Toronto’s bullpen handled the rest. Mason Fluharty and Yariel Rodríguez covered the final three innings, with Rodríguez giving up a home run to Maximo Acosta—the rookie’s second career hit, both homers. Miami’s offense, though, couldn’t muster a late rally, and the game ended with a 5-2 Marlins defeat. With the loss, Miami’s record dropped to 60-68. Josh Simpson and Valente Bellozo provided three scoreless innings of relief for the Marlins, but the deficit proved too much to overcome.
For Toronto, the win pushed their record to 75-54 and extended their lead atop the AL East to five games, with the Yankees and Red Sox in hot pursuit. Notably, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. missed his third straight game due to left hamstring inflammation, but the Blue Jays’ lineup didn’t miss a beat, especially with Varsho providing the power and France delivering clutch hits early.
As for Gusto, the remainder of the season serves as a trial period. He’s competing for a rotation spot in 2026, with Miami’s rotation picture crowded by established arms like Sandy Alcantara, Edward Cabrera, Eury Pérez, Ryan Weathers, Braxton Garrett, and Max Meyer. Even if the Marlins move some veterans in the offseason, prospects Adam Mazur, Robby Snelling, and Thomas White are waiting in the wings. Gusto knows what’s at stake: "They traded for me," he said. "They had some plans for my arsenal and some adjustments that I could make. I think finishing the season out is going to be, in large part, making those adjustments that they wanted to see and really trying to see some success with that and put me in a really good situation for next year."
Looking ahead, Janson Junk is set to take the mound for Miami on Saturday, facing Toronto’s José Berríos in another pivotal matchup. The spotlight remains on Gusto and the Marlins’ evolving rotation, as every outing now carries weight for the future. For Gusto, Friday’s start may not have been perfect, but it offered a glimpse of what could be—a pitcher determined to seize his opportunity and make Miami his home.
