Following a day off from games, the Marlins were back in action with another simulated contest on Sunday evening.

Jordan Yamamoto and Elieser Hernandez drew the assignments and played with incomplete defenses behind them throughout the night. Simulated games are mostly about pitchers and hitters getting their reps in. Seeing a routine grounder fielded by an infielder, is not necessary at this time. As the season inches closer, these simulated games could become a little more involved however.

Hernandez and Yamamoto are competing for a rotation spot. There is unlikely to be room for both men in the starting rotation, barring an IL stint for one of the other arms. With that direct competition in mind, these pitchers had a lot of reasons to focus on this appearance. Both pitchers started out strong, but things came off the rails a bit towards the end. As this was the first simulated start for both men, fatigue could have been an issue.

Hernandez went five innings and allowed a pair of runs. One of those runs came off the bat of Jonathan Villar, who connected for his first home run of the simulated Summer Camp season. Villar also knocked in the other run surrendered by Hernandez, via a sacrifice bunt an inning earlier.

Yamamoto lasted only four innings as his pitch count rapidly climbed in a chaotic third inning. The right-hander allowed a pair of RBI doubles in that frame. Jesus Aguilar and Eddy Alvarez tagged Yamamoto with those run-producing hard hits, after he had struck out two in the earlier innings of his start.

Miami's next simulated game could come as soon as Monday evening. The first exhibition game against another team will take place on July 21 in Atlanta.

Hooray!