The Miami Marlins will look to continue a pair of impressive streaks on Friday night when they open a three-game series against the host Pittsburgh Pirates.
The Marlins have back-to-back shutouts while extending their winning streak to a season-high five games.
Miami followed an 8-0 home victory over Arizona on Wednesday with a 2-0 triumph against the Diamondbacks on Thursday afternoon. Tyler Phillips yielded two hits and two walks while striking out five batters over five-plus scoreless innings for the Marlins in the series finale.
“We’ve made a goal to win four games a week, and I think a lot of us have taken that really personally and really like a lot to heart,” Phillips said. “The pitching staff coming in and just attacking, man. Early in the year, we didn’t do it, and I think now we’re really taking that to heart.”
Otto Lopez, who leads the majors with a .344 batting average, recorded his major-league-best 29th multi-hit performance of the season on Thursday. He had two of the five hits for the Marlins, who have won eight of nine contests on the heels of a season-worst five-game losing streak.
“We’re playing a much cleaner brand (of ball), pitching at a much higher level, and I think we’ll continue to get better,” Miami manager Clayton McCullough said. “We cut down the walks as a group, and I think we’ll see more and more days and stretches like this because of the talent we have.
“This is certainly the best stretch we’ve played consecutively this season, and (it) comes at a good time. Hopefully, we can just continue to play well and give ourselves some cracks in games.”
The Marlins will turn to Sandy Alcantara (5-4, 4.33 ERA) to start the Friday game. The Pirates will go with fellow right-hander Braxton Ashcraft (5-3, 3.28).
Alcantara pocketed a pair of wins after working seven innings in each of his last two starts. The 2022 National League Cy Young Award winner allowed one run on five hits and a walk while striking out seven in a 4-1 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays on Sunday.
Alcantara, 30, is 2-0 with a 2.62 ERA in eight career appearances (seven starts) vs. Pittsburgh.
Ashcraft won four consecutive decisions before matching a career high for runs allowed (six) in five innings during a 6-3 setback to the Atlanta Braves on Saturday. He acknowledged he was struggling to command his off-speed pitches.
“It’s sort of a cat-and-mouse game, being able to keep guys off-balance,” Ashcraft said. “It starts with being able to offer four or five of your pitches in the zone whenever you need to. I didn’t land my curveball very often, and the slider wasn’t competitive. I was just kind of pitching with fastballs (vs. the Braves), and you can’t do that against a (team) that really hits fastballs well.”
Ashcraft, 26, didn’t fare well in his lone career outing against the Marlins, allowing one run on one hit in one-third of an inning of a no-decision on June 11, 2025.
Brandon Lowe belted his team-leading 16th homer, and rookie Rafael Flores Jr. added the first of his career in Pittsburgh’s 8-6 setback to the visiting Los Angeles Dodgers on Thursday. The defeat was the Pirates’ fifth in their past six games.
–Field Level Media
