A pair of teams that were swept in doubleheaders ahead of Hurricane Hilary’s arrival in Southern California will meet on Monday night when the Miami Marlins open a three-game series with the host San Diego Padres.
Both teams saw their National League wild-card chances take a hit on Saturday, as Miami dropped a pair of games to the Los Angeles Dodgers by identical 3-1 scores while the Padres lost 6-4 in the opener of their twin bill against the Arizona Diamondbacks before falling 8-1 in Game 2.
The losses had more of an impact on San Diego, which now sits six games back of the Chicago Cubs, who currently hold the third and final NL wild-card spot.
“You don’t explain it,” Padres manager Bob Melvin said. “You just have to keep digging. We put ourselves in this position and continue to. You just keep fighting until you get it right.
“(Saturday) was a long, miserable day. Certainly not what we expected, what we wanted, but we have to push forward.”
Meanwhile, the Marlins are still well within striking distance of Chicago but find themselves in a three-way tie for the No. 4 spot in the wild-card race. Miami is just one game back of the Cubs, but so are the Cincinnati Reds and Arizona.
Despite the sour results on Saturday, Marlins manager Skip Schumaker is still confident in his team.
“It’s tough holding on to a 1-0 lead against the Dodgers,” Schumaker said. “That was a tough loss. Overall, I like the way we’re playing. We just ran into two well-pitched games and didn’t have much going.”
Luckily for Miami, the series against Los Angeles wasn’t a complete a waste. The Marlins clubbed five homers on Friday in an 11-3 victory that snapped the Dodgers’ season-best, 11-game winning streak.
But now Miami has lost four of its last five games. The Marlins will turn to former Padres’ left-hander Ryan Weathers (1-7, 6.89 ERA) to start Monday.
Weathers is 0-1 in one appearance since going to the Marlins in an Aug. 1 trade for first baseman/designated hitter Garrett Cooper and relief pitcher Sean Reynolds. He hasn’t pitched since giving up six runs on six hits and four walks with five strikeouts in 3 2/3 innings at Texas on Aug. 5. Weathers was 0-3 with an 8.79 ERA in four starts for the Padres at Petco Park this season.
Monday would normally have been left-hander Jesus Luzardo’s turn in the rotation. But he has been pushed back to Tuesday after going 0-3 with a 10.59 ERA in his last four starts. He has allowed 21 runs (20 earned) in 17 innings in that span and hasn’t worked more than 5 1/3 innings during any of those outings.
The Padres will counter with right-hander Michael Wacha (9-2, 2.68 ERA), who has been on a roll over the better part of the last three-plus months.
Since May 2, Wacha is 7-1 with a 1.10 ERA over his last 11 starts, including his most recent outing against Baltimore last Tuesday. He allowed three hits in five scoreless innings against the Orioles, walking one and striking out five to earn the win.
Wacha is 3-1 with a 4.05 ERA in five career starts against the Marlins.
–Field Level Media
