Gusto starting for Marlins on Friday

Gusto closed out what was an excellent month of August with another strong start here. His fastball led the charge, but he forced a whiff with five different pitches and multiple with three. The depth of his repertoire has shown up in a huge way over his last five starts where he has a 1.85 ERA, 19 strikeouts, and five walks over 24 1/3 innings. He’s lined up for a two-start week coming up against the Royals in Kansas City and then Cubs at home.

Gusto was solid in this one, keeping the Nationals off the board over four frames despite allowing six runners to reach base. The five hits Gusto allowed on the night were all singles, and in his final inning of work, he worked himself out of a jam with two runners on and only one out. Gusto hasn’t pitched out of the fifth inning in any of his last three starts and won’t be on the fantasy radar for his next start, which is scheduled for Wednesday against the Red Sox.

The unearned runs came in the third after an Esteury Ruiz error in right field opened the door for a two-run inning. The earned runs came on back-to-back homers from Ke’Bryan Hayes and Matt McLain in the fifth. Gusto walked none and had a nice 37 percent CSW. He’ll probably start against the Nationals next week.

Gusto struck out four and walked one in the 60-pitch outing. He’d gone over 75 pitches in each of his past two starts, but Miami limited him on Sunday afternoon. He stepped into the rotation when Max Meyer went on the IL shortly after the All-Star break, and he’ll likely stick for a while, given Braxton Garrett was traded at the deadline. Gusto doesn’t have much fantasy value, though, and his next start lines up in Cincinnati’s hitter-friendly ballpark.

The only run Gusto allowed was a solo homer to Ozzie Albies in the second inning. Outside of that blemish the 27-year-old pitched well with five strikeouts, one walk and just five hits allowed through the contest. He still has a 4.80 ERA on the season, but Gusto has looked better than that number suggests for much of the campaign. He has a friendly matchup coming up on paper Sunday in a scheduled bout against the Angels.

Gusto struck out three and walked two, raising his ERA to 5.31. Down 6-0, Miami scored eight unanswered to sweep Philadelphia. He’s made 13 appearances (eight starts) on the year but remains off the fantasy radar. His next outing lines up against the Braves in Atlanta.

This was a new age ‘short starter game’ with Gusto and his counterpart Germán Márquez combining to throw 5 2/3 innings and 94 pitches. The old heads somewhere screaming at a cloud. Regardless, Gusto flashed some solid stuff with a lively mid-90s fastball that he kept up in the zone, sinker he did a good job to bury low, and deep array of secondaries that he landed for strikes. There could be some mild intrigue here if he eventually builds up to a full starter’s workload. He’s lined up to face the Phillies at home next time out.

Garrett has been thriving of late — he’s allowed one earned run over 30 innings in his last five starts for the Jumbo Shrimp — and seemed like the obvious choice to step into Miami’s rotation in Max Meyer’s place, but it’s not happening right now. They’ll apparently go with a bullpen day on Friday, with Ryan Gusto likely to be featured.

Gusto could potentially mix in behind Janson Junk today in Junk’s return from the injured list, as he hasn’t pitched since July 2.

Gusto was lit up for three runs in just three innings against the Rockies on Thursday and hasn’t made it through the fifth inning in any of his six starts with the Marlins, culminating in a troublesome 5.55 ERA. He’ll attempt to work through his issues at the Triple-A level for the time being. William Kempner was recalled from Triple-A Jacksonville in a corresponding move on Friday.